Differences in Web Site Preferences Based on the Information Search Task: Findings from a Goal Directed and Exploratory Search Setting

The Internet is an important source of information for travellers. While the information search process is well understood the evaluation of sources based on the search goal still merits investigation. Users for instance may be very satisfied with certain websites when just browsing for fun. However, for users searching for precise factual information the outcome may not be satisfying. Thus, this paper investigates the satisfaction with a web site with the search task (exploratory vs. goal directed) as a moderator. The results indicate that for goal directed search usefulness and content quality are the strongest drivers of satisfaction.