Website Text Readability

What it measures

Three items assessing the perceived readability and comprehensibility of a website's text, pages, and labels. Loiacono, Watson, and Goodhue (2002) developed the scale as the 'ease of understanding' dimension of WebQual. Blut (2016) labelled it 'website convenience' and reported high reliability (α=.91) and AVE (.78), with face validity confirmed and discriminant validity showing mixed results across different tests.

Response format

5-point Likert (1=strongly agree, 5=strongly disagree)

Scale items

• The display pages within the website are easy to read.
• The text on the website is easy to read.
• The website labels are easy to understand.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Alpha was .91 (Blut 2016) and AVE was .78. Discriminant validity was mixed — the scale passed Anderson and Gerbing's (1988) test but not Fornell and Larcker's (1981) criterion with respect to some other scales in the study. Note the reversed response format: strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5). Part of the broader WebQual instrument alongside website visual appeal and interactivity subscales.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Loiacono, E.T., Watson, R.T., & Goodhue, D.L. (2002). WebQual: A measure of website quality. Marketing Theory and Applications, 13(3), 432–438.

Keywords