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approach and validate the measurement instru-
ment. All minor problems or misinterpretations of
the questions that occurred in the pilot study were
addressed to improve the questionnaire in both
form and content (e.g., the layout of the questions
and answer choices and the wording of the ques-
tionnaire and instructions).
A sample of 406 web-based survey question-
naires was collected in Klang Valley, Malaysia in
March 2013. It is believed that Klang Valley resi-
dents tend to be more Internet-connected and—
savvy, better educated, and more English-speaking
than residents of other parts of Malaysia (Malay-
siakini, 2003). Intercept and snowball sampling
methods were used as informal methods to reach
the target population. Because the aim of this
study is primarily explorative and descriptive,
snowball sampling offered practical advantages
(Hendriks, Blanken, Adriaans & Hartnoll, 1992).
Six questionnaires were eliminated due to excessive
missing data, leaving a total of 400 users included
in this study. Accessibility and content quality
were examined using instruments adapted from
the scale derived by Li and Wang (2011) and focus
group interviews.
The survey instrument consisted of four sections.
The aim of the first section was to filter out irrelevant
respondents and collect general information from
the relevant respondents. The aim of the second sec-
tion was to measure the respondents' perceptions of
the website's accessibility and content quality. The
respondents were asked to indicate their percep-
tions on a 7-point Likert scale that ranged from 1
(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The third
section was intended to examine the respondents'
overall level of satisfaction with the Go2homestay
website, and they were asked at the end to provide
an overall evaluation of their intention to actually
undertake the homestay of their choice. The final
section collected socio-demographic information
(e.g., age, gender, income, educational background,
marital status and race).
4.2
Information and design evaluation
The information assessment was not intended to
be all-inclusive but was only designed to assess
the information available on and performance of
the Go2hometay website. According to the mean
score table, the most notable result in this subsec-
tion of the analysis concerns the website's photo
gallery, which visitors considered vital to find-
ing relevant information (Mean
=
5.68, Standard
Deviation
1.02). This high mean score was due to
the use of graphics and pictures on the site encour-
aging respondents to view the experiences of those
who have visited homestays.
Typically, email addresses, phone numbers,
mailing addresses and other contact information
are listed together, and the visitors ranked the pro-
vision of such information as the second most vital
feature (Mean
=
0.96).
After contact information came information
on accommodations (Mean
=
5.56, Standard Deviation
=
=
5.31, Standard
Deviation
=
1.09),
entertainment
(Mean
=
5.12,
Standard Deviation
=
1.08), and nearby attractions
(Mean
1.13).
Beyond these components, respondents did not
believe that the Go2homestay website provided
any unique content. The keyword search, maps
and directions, and selected links to external web-
sites were considered useful resources but ones
that could be found on other related websites. One
exception was the event calendar, which enables
visitors to plan visits in conjunction with events
they find interesting.
=
5.22, Standard Deviation
=
4.3
Accessibility and content quality evaluation
This study's first research question concerned how
visitors rated the accessibility of the Go2homestay
website. The results show that the mean scores of
six features among the accessibility criteria are
above 4.0. These criteria also present low stand-
ard deviations, thereby supporting the consistency
of the distribution. Therefore, the majority of the
features were likely to be considered satisfactory. It
is clear that the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia is
endeavouring to meet the expectations of visitors
regarding the promotion of homestay tourism in
the country.
The notable results in this subsection of the
analysis include the following: (i) the ease of sub-
menu use; (ii) ease of navigation; and (iii) multi-
lingual capabilities, with Mean
4
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
4.1
Demographic analysis
Approximately 69.5 percent of respondents in this
study were female, and the remaining 30.5 percent
were male. Among the respondents, 56 percent
earned less than RM 1,500 per month, 20 percent
earned between RM 1,500 and RM 2,500 and 24
percent earned more than RM 2,500 a month. 61.5
percent of respondents were between 18 and 25
years of age, while the remaining 38.5 percent were
26 or above. Many of the respondents (53.5%) had
become aware of homestay tourism through the
Internet.
=
5.18, Mean
=
5.18
and Mean
5.03, respectively. These results may
indicate that the Go2homestay website met visi-
tors' expectations. Visitors expected to access
information without experiencing any technical or
linguistic difficulties. These results are consistent
with previous findings that highlighted the critical
=
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