Empowerment of SME websites-Development of a web-empowerment scale and preliminary evidence

Sinkovics, Rudolf R.; Penz, Elfriede

Abstract

The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web has been argued to fundamentally reshape economic conditions and business practices of firms. It is seen as a promoter of rapid internationalisation of companies, particularly small and medium enterprises. In the aftermath of the burst of the electronic-bubble business practitioners and academics look with scrutiny on successful web-strategies, relevant dimensions of online-success and try to identify viable website practices which enable long-term rewards. The literature offers a rather patchy pattern for successful web-strategies and consumer perspectives on what is expected from websites is hardly available. Within this paper, we introduce the dimension "web-empowerment”. This is a multidimensional construct comprising of consumer views on various dimensions of relevant and successful websites. The web-empowerment scale is based on a large sample from Austria, and developed according to scale development procedures. The relevance of this construct and practical issues in the context of a cross-country sample of SME’s is empirically examined. The paper concludes by offering implications for SME practitioners and for research.

Citation

Sinkovics, R. R., & Penz, E. (2005). Empowerment of SME websites-Development of a web-empowerment scale and preliminary evidence. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 3(4), 303-315. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-006-7858-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2005-12
• Deposit Date: Feb 5, 2025
• Print ISSN: 1570-7385
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-7349
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 303-315
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-006-7858-8
• Keywords: Internet, Website, Assessment, International marketing, SME, Scale development,
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2772806