Fuzzy Hierarchical Evaluation of Business Website Performance with Applications to Luxury Hotels

The purpose of the study described in this thesis was to evaluate the usefulness of business websites through a fuzzy hierarchical evaluation approach. The importance of the Internet in hospitality and tourism has attracted considerable attention from both academic researchers and industry practitioners. However, very few investigations have evaluated website performance by employing formal algorithms integrating consumer perceptions with evaluation results. In addition, no existing standardized website attributes or guidelines incorporating web design and content are available in the hotel industry.;To bridge these research gaps, this study's objectives were: i) to establish a comprehensive list of attributes for website functionality; ii) to develop a comprehensive list of attributes for website usability; iii) to integrate the applicability of these lists in the Chinese and international contexts; and iv) to assess the usefulness performance of different groups of hotel websites (those of China-based and international luxury hotels) by employing a proposed fuzzy hierarchical Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model based on user perceptions. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were used in this study.;The findings indicated that although both Chinese and international consumers seek hotel information online, Chinese consumers are more concerned about detailed hotel information. In contrast, international consumers prefer to explore online and pay more attention to web structure. The usefulness performance of China-based and international luxury hotel websites was also assessed. The results revealed that international hotel websites perform better than their Chinese counterparts. The preferences of Chinese and international online consumers were also investigated according to the best and worst-performed hotel websites selected and displayed.;The major contribution of this study is to introduce a novel and potentially useful website evaluation approach that can be used to capture both Chinese and international users' perceptions. The new approach integrates both hotel website functionality and usability dimensions to evaluate the usefulness of luxury hotel websites from a holistic perspective. Luxury hotels are selected on the basis of their financial ability to establish competitive websites.