Examining the Merits of Usefulness Versus Use in an Information Service Quality and Information System Success Web-Based Model

Managers are increasingly facing the question of how to convey electronic information to e-commerce users in a manner that enables those individuals to resolve information search related problems more easily. Information service quality and the associated performance is challenging to manage in Web-based interactions because such settings involve several features (i.e., less tangible contact, more uncertainty, differing feedback loops between business and consumer) not found in more traditional exchanges. In an attempt to capture a broader view of the quality of information service offerings in ecommerce settings, the model compares the DeLone and McLean’s framework (2003) that includes use as an outcome measure with a model suggested by Landrum and Prybutok (2004) that features usefulness as its outcome measure. A random survey of Army Corps of Engineers library customers was performed at two library sites within the Corps.