The survey instrument refers to the questionnaire used in the research, and the questions included in the questionnaire are referred to as survey items. The sur-vey instrument used in this research included several sursur-vey items which were adapted from prior studies on relevant constructs to produce a valid instrument (Leavy, 2017).
Seven items which measured website usability were adopted from Roy et al. (2001). Security and privacy were measured using four items that were partly adopted from McKnight et al. (2002) and partly from Park and Kim (2003). Speed of download included three items that were adopted from Novak et al. (2000).
Website information quality was measured with four items adopted from Park and Kim (2003). Website aesthetics was measured using six items adopted from Aladwani and Palvia (2002) and Loiacono et al. (2007). Questions for measuring
online trust included nine items and were adopted from Roy et al. (2001). Simi-larly, behavioural intentions was measured with three items adopted from Jiang et al. (2013) and Hur et al. (2011) was used to adopt three items for measuring eWOM intentions. The survey items are presented in table 4.
TABLE 4 Measurement items
Item Adapted from
WEBSITE USABILITY
WU1: Considering the home page of this site, I understand clearly what can be done.
WU2: I can find easily what I am looking for on this site.
WU3: I always know where I can go.
WU4: Menus are distinct from other displayed information.
WU5: The grouping of menu options is logical.
WU6: I am always able to go back easily to the pages that I had pre-viously visited.
WU7: The structure of this site seems logical to me.
Roy et al. (2001)
SECURITY AND PRIVACY
SP1: This site provides detailed information about security.
SP2: I feel assured that my personal information will not be shared with third parties.
SP3: This site provides a clearly written policy of handling privacy information.
SP4: This site provides a secure transaction mechanism.
McKnight et al.
(2002);
Park and Kim (2003)
SPEED OF DOWNLOAD
SOD1: Pages on this site I visit usually load quickly.
SOD2: When I interact with this site, there is very little waiting time between my actions and the site’s response.
SOD3: Interacting with this site is slow and tedious. (R)
Novak et al.
(2000)
WEBSITE INFORMATION QUALITY
WIQ1: This site provides sufficient product & service information.
WIQ2: This site provides easy-to-understand product information.
WIQ3: This site provides easy-to-understand service information.
WIQ4: This site provides detailed product information.
Park and Kim (2003)
(continues)
TABLE 4 (continues) WEBSITE AESTHETICS
WA1: The website looks attractive.
WA2: The website looks organize.
WA3: The website uses its logo, texts and fonts properly.
WA4: The website uses colours properly.
WA5: The website is visually appealing.
WA6: The website uses images properly.
Aladwani and Palvia (2002);
Loiacono et al.
(2007)
ONLINE TRUST
TRUST1: Based on my experience with the website, I have gained some trust with this vendor.
TRUST2: E-ville has much knowledge about the work that needs to be done.
TRUST3: E-ville tries hard to be fair in dealing with others.
TRUST4: I feel very confident about e-ville's service.
TRUST5: E-ville is well qualified.
TRUST6: E-ville is very capable of performing its job.
TRUST7: E-ville will go out of its way to help me.
TRUST8: I never have to wonder whether e-ville will stick to its word.
TRUST9: E-ville would not knowingly do anything to hurt me.
Roy et al. (2001)
e-WORD OF MOUTH INTENTIONS
eWOMI1: I strongly recommend people buy products online from this vendor.
eWOMI2: I will tell about this brand to others in my online network.
eWOMI3: I will speak favorably of this vendor to others.
Hur et al. (2011)
BEHAVIOURAL INTENTIONS
BI1: I will use this website for online purchases.
BI2: I encourage others to shop online at this retailer.
BI3: I will revisit this website.
Jiang et al. (2013)
3.3.1 Online questionnaire
As a data collection technique for this research, an online questionnaire was used.
The questionnaire was created in English language by using Webropol 3.0 which is a survey and reporting tool. The data were collected from the residents of Fin-land who are between the ages of 18 – 65. In order to motivate more respondents to participate in the survey, a raffle was added drawing for 2 gift certificates each worth 30 euros.
To measure the relationships between the selected variables adapted in the research model, the questionnaire included 54 questions or survey items. A
7-point Likert scale ranging from 1(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) was uti-lized in order to measure the survey items. These items helped in testing whether the proposed hypotheses are supported or refuted.
In addition to these, 4 demographic questions were asked regarding re-spondents’ age, gender, income and education. These provided better insights into the sample and were used as control variables for the research. In order to understand the sample’s online behaviour and perception towards online shop-ping, the questionnaire also included 7 single-answer multiple choice questions.
These investigated respondents’ shopping preferences, frequencies of online shopping and familiarity towards the web vendor.
While creating the survey instrument, special measures were taken in order to avoid any respondent burden and to ensure higher response rate and good qual-ity responses. According to Leavy (2007), respondent burden occurs when re-spondents perceive their participation in the survey research to be difficult, stressful or time consuming. Respondents were asked to visit the e-commerce store by clicking the provided link and investigate the website before answering any questions. The format of the questions was constructed as clear as possible and it followed a logical structure. Additional hints were provided to ensure that the respondents understand the concepts that were being discussed in the ques-tionnaire. Moreover, respondents were also pre-informed that answering the sur-vey would take approximately 5-10 minutes. All these guidelines were aimed to ease the answering process for the respondents.