Dimensions and determinants of website brand equity: From the perspective of website contents

Abstract

This study develops a research model that can be used to evaluate website brand equity from the perspective of web contents. To evaluate the model and to examine the effects of web contents on brand equity, a SEM analysis is conducted on twenty Chinese websites which could be classified into four different types. The results show that the website brand equity model, which is composed of five dimensions, namely brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand relationship, brand experience and brand attraction, is useful for measuring website brand value, and also applicable to different web types. Web contents factors, such as recourses, design, service and interactivity, are found to be the antecedents of website brand equity, and they all affect dimensions of website brand equity. However, the effects vary according to web types. The results also demonstrate that portal websites’ brand equity value is the highest while shopping websites’ brand equity value is the lowest among the four web types. Suggestions and implications are provided for website brand management.

Keywords

brand equity / website / formation mechanism / web contents