icegov2012 proceedings
icegov2012 proceedings
icegov2012 proceedings
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5.2 Other Findings<br />
Business model is a strong predictor for not only website effect,<br />
but also other variables, such as website construction, social<br />
networking services, website promotion, etc. Two commercial<br />
websites, the Website for Migrant workers and the Website for<br />
China Labor, are better than other websites in all aspects,<br />
especially in information updating and examination of<br />
information accuracy. Websites with worst performances are<br />
those commercial websites which are short of funds, those<br />
government websites which are in transformation to commercial<br />
ones and those personal BBSs.<br />
Lack of funds is reported by several small webmasters as the key<br />
factor that influences website effect. The master of the Website of<br />
Jobs for Migrant and Technical Workers, a commercial website<br />
that was set up by a few individual MFW partners with their<br />
meager wages, said: “limitation of funding is the bottleneck of<br />
development and makes the website very difficult.” Another<br />
website, China Migrant Worker (Party Building), was also<br />
established by individual MFW partners and can’t operate well for<br />
lack of money. Lack of talents is another problem related with<br />
shortage of funds. Workers from a few websites which perform<br />
better said that it is difficult for MFW websites to attract better<br />
professionals because they can’t offer higher salaries.<br />
5.3 Practical implications<br />
Previous studies didn’t pay much attention to MFW websites for<br />
many reasons. This study finds that MFW websites are neither<br />
parts of government websites, nor just a group of agriculture<br />
related websites, but are important information platforms<br />
concerning legal right protection, employment and development<br />
of Chinese MFWs with independent business models. The results<br />
of this study have some practical implications for both<br />
webmasters and governments.<br />
5.3.1 Proper business model is critical for the<br />
survival and development of Chinese MFW<br />
websites<br />
Previous researches advocate that government should make<br />
efforts to provide free information services for MFWs because<br />
some of them live in worse information environment and have<br />
lower information capabilities than others, but few empirical<br />
examinations have been conducted to explore specific service<br />
patterns. This study shows that pure government website is not an<br />
effective and efficient model for the delivery of information with<br />
commercial characters. It also finds that information services<br />
related with legal right protection of MFWs could be supported by<br />
governments by means of service procurement, tax cuts, project<br />
leading, etc.. Therefore, MFW websites need to manage to seek<br />
appropriate business models, broaden funding channels, and strive<br />
for supports from governments.<br />
5.3.2 Construction of website features other than<br />
contents will become more important in the<br />
future<br />
This study shows that some website features such as information<br />
organization, number of links and SNS functions have not<br />
significant influences on website effect. But as more and more<br />
MFW websites emerge and the competition among them<br />
intensifies, strengthening the construction of website features<br />
other than contents will become more necessary and urgent.<br />
102<br />
5.3.3 Governments should provide more supports for<br />
commercial and non-profit MFW websites<br />
rather than establish new ones by themselves<br />
This study shows that commercial websites and non-profit<br />
websites supported by government procurement are more<br />
successful than government websites and personal BBSs. This<br />
means that although public information services are very<br />
important for the survival and development of MFWs, it is not a<br />
smart choice for government agencies to establish and manage<br />
websites for MFWs by themselves. Instead, government should<br />
support non-profit or commercial websites by means of<br />
government procurement, tax cutting and policy concessions.<br />
6. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION<br />
6.1 Conclusions<br />
This study explored the factors that influence service effect MFW<br />
websites. An analytical framework comprising four independent<br />
variables, including business model, website construction, social<br />
networking services, website promotion, and one dependent<br />
variable, website effect, was advanced under a managerialtechnical<br />
perspective. These variables were borrowed from<br />
theories of usability, information architecture and webometrics.<br />
Both quantitative and qualitative indicators were used for the<br />
measurement of these variables, and a multi-case study was<br />
conducted for a holistic exploration. It was found that factors that<br />
significantly influence the effect and sustainable development of<br />
MFW websites are business model, information content and<br />
website promotion. Among them, business model also make<br />
impacts as a mediating variable. Different kinds of information<br />
intend to be provided by websites with different business models.<br />
Government procurement and NPO funding are efficient<br />
arrangements for websites on the legal right protection of MFWs.<br />
The “commerce plus non-profit” mode by charging employers and<br />
training agencies who issue information on websites but don’t<br />
charge MFWs who issue or acquire information is common for<br />
employment websites. Lack of money was reported as a prevalent<br />
problem that faces with all kinds of MFW websites.<br />
6.2 Limitations<br />
Firstly, trying to combine both managerial and technical, and even<br />
social perspectives into a holistic study is risky in being accepted<br />
by readers who are accustomed to one discipline paradigm. We<br />
employed and unified theories from LIS, IS, webmetrics and<br />
management science and formulated an analytical framework for<br />
this qualitative study. We hope that this attempt will be proved a<br />
cross-discipline innovation instead of a blunder. Secondly, a<br />
multi-case study may have to lose some detailed information in<br />
order to improve the generality of the research findings, although<br />
we had collected a large amount of first and second-hand data by<br />
means of interview, website examinations and literature reviews.<br />
Thirdly, the validity of four independent variables and 1<br />
dependent variable were not testified powerfully in this qualitative<br />
study because we failed to find similar studies and appropriate<br />
methods. Fourthly, we focused on websites and neglected<br />
information needs and information seeking behaviors of migrant<br />
farmer workers, which will be studied in further step.<br />
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS<br />
Our thanks to 3 projects that support this study, the project<br />
“Information Access of Chinese Migrant Farmer Workers and the
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