ABSTRACT
A Website Personality Scale (WPS) was developed and validated through a multi-phase process. We investigated the presence of human and brand personality attributes as well as information characteristics in over one hundred websites. A strong presence of information characteristics was found, verified along dimensions of content quality, access, and time. A number of traditional human and brand personality attributes also were present. These attributes correlated with overall attitude and liking of the websites, which helped to validate the scale. There was little evidence to support the presence of interactivity, real time, and customization-characteristics believed to be central to the Internet and Web technology. The findings suggest that the WPS is both a reliable and valid measure of website personality.
Additional information
Qimei Chen (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor of Marketing in the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her research interests include advertising effectiveness, e-commerce, IT usage, Internet health, market segmentation, and cross-cultural consumer behavior.
Shelly Rodgers (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor of Strategic Communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s School of Journalism. Her research examines information processing of Internet health care advertising, marketing and communication messages, segmentation of Internet markets, and the impact of new technologies on psychosocial well-being.