Is "Usefulness" or "Use" the Superior Metric When Assessing Web-Based Information System Success?

Managers are increasingly confronting the question of how to convey electronic information to e-commerce users in a manner that permits individuals to resolve information search related problems more easily. Information service quality and the associated performance outcomes are challenging to manage during Web-based interactions, primarily because such settings involve several features (i.e., less tangible contact, more uncertainty, differing feedback loops between business and consumers) not found in more traditional exchanges. To capture a broader view of the quality of information offerings in ecommerce settings, the model tested in this study compares the DeLone and McLean (2003) framework, one that includes use as an outcome measure, with a model suggested by Landrum and Prybutok (2004), one that features usefulness as its outcome measure. A random sample of Army Corp of Engineers library customers was performed at two library sites with the Corps. Theoretical and applied implications are developed and discussed.