Identifier

etd-01202009-162111

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Human Resource Education and Workforce Development

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the World Wide Web (Web) has become a major media outlet for disseminating information. Government and Higher Education institutions have both embraced Web technologies to serve the needs of their clientele. Thus, a method of developing targeted Web-based material that is optimized for the viewer to provide the greatest impact in terms of usefulness is needed. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected demographic characteristics on the perception of usefulness among United States resident viewers of an information delivery website. The accessible population for this study was all viewers of the LSUAgCenter.com Website for the timeframe from February, 2007 through February, 2008. Viewers of the Website were asked to participate in an anonymous voluntary pop-up survey that asked their age, gender and Zip Code. These data were tracked as users accessed the various features of the Website including Webpage usefulness rating forms, comments sent to authors, and Webpages referred to friends. Using multiple regression analysis, the following variables were analyzed to determine if a model exists that explains a significant portion of the variance in the viewers’ overall perception of usefulness: age; gender; whether or not the viewer is a resident of the state of Louisiana; month of rating; whether or not the viewer has referred at least one Webpage to a friend; and whether or not the viewer commented on at least one Webpage. The researcher discovered that these variables explained only 3.3% of the variance in the viewers’ perception of usefulness of the pages they rated on the LSUAgCenter.com Website and recommends that more research be conducted to discover additional factors to enhance the model. The researcher found that differences exist in the perception of Website usefulness based on age, gender, and geographic location of the viewer. The researcher also found that viewers find the Webpages of the LSUAgCenter.com Website to be useful overall.

Date

2009

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Michael F. Burnett

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.739

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