User Satisfaction of Information Display on

Mobile Devices and Desktop Computer: A

Comparative Study
Tam Mei Thien a, Fadhilah Mat Yamin a, Wan Hussain Wan Ishak b
a
School of Technology Management & Logistics, UUM COB, UUM, Malaysia
b
School of Computing, UUM CAS, UUM, Malaysia

Abstract: Internet is a worldwide system with interconnected computer networks. Nowadays, mobile devices
and desktop computer are among the popular tools for the user to access the Internet. How the web page display
on the mobile devices and desktop computer screen will influence the user usability toward the website or the web
application. Therefore, this study aims to assess user satisfaction on the display of web page on mobile devices
and desktop computer. A total of 260 respondents were selected to answer the online questionnaire. The End
User Computing Satisfaction (EUCS) model was used to examine user satisfaction in terms of content, accuracy,
format, ease of use and timeliness. The findings show that the respondents are more satisfied with the display on
desktop computer compared to mobile devices. The results suggest that the web designer should improve the web
page display on mobile devices so that the user satisfaction can be improved.

Keywords: User Satisfaction, Web Page, Mobile Devices, Desktop Computer

1. INTRODUCTION common devices that used by the user to

access the Internet. In Malaysia, the digital
The Internet, computers and mobile devices devices usage had shown as significant
such as smartphones or mobile phones has increase. According to the report published on
become an integral part of our lives in this We Are Social website in 2016, the smartphone
Digital Age. Digital technologies have changed devices usage had reached to 71% in 2016
every aspect of our lives allowing us to where the laptop or desktop computer was only
immediately access and share information 35%. This means that smartphones had
worldwide, to communicate and to interact with become the basic necessity for most of the
the people around the world (Kantardjieff & Ng, people in this era of technology. In 2017, the
2012). The digital technologies allow sharing same website report that the rate of
and interacting in real time within any location smartphones usage has increased to 81% in
and any time. There will be no boundaries for 2017 and the laptop or desktop computer user
user to share information and connect within was just only increased 2% compared to 2016.
each other around the world.
As the Internet growing rate increased, the web
The Internet users in the world had rapidly developer for mobile based apps and desktop
increased due to the advance technology. computer need to always alert to the perception
Internet World Stats (2017) stated that the of the user so that the web page design could
Internet usage had reached 3.7 million users in fulfil the user needs and requirements. The
year 2000. It has dramatically increased and accessibility and usability of the web pages
had reached to around 24.5 million of Internet viewed on the mobile devices and desktop
users at June 30, 2017. The number of Internet computer could increase users’ intention to
users will keep on increasing and the number of browse that entire website or use the web
mobile users will have an impressive gain as application. Thus, the aim of this study is to
the smartphones usages are continuously assess the user satisfaction on the display of
increased. web pages on mobile devices versus desktop
computer. The user satisfaction will be examine
The invention of smartphones brought huge in term of content, accuracy, format, ease of
impact to the Internet users growing rate. use and timeliness by using the end user
Smartphones becoming more and more computing satisfaction (EUCS) model.
popular due to the advances computing
capabilities and unique features. Nowadays,
smartphones and computer are the most

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW use and timeliness as shown in the framework
in Figure 1. Table 1 depicted the measurement
According to Mielach (2013), mobile devices used in this study. The Five Likert point rating
are becoming the preferred way to access the scale is used which are 1 = strongly disagree; 2
Internet for a majority of people. More and more = disagree; 3 = neutral; 4 = agree and 5 =
users are performing web searches on their strongly agree. The questionnaire has been
mobile devices and not their desktops. As the distributed to the respondents through online by
mobile market continues to grow at an using Google form.
exponential rate, users are leaving their
desktops and taking in more information from
their smartphones (Melvin, 2015). The use of
mobile devices is becoming more
commonplace, with data regularly able to make
the transition from desktop systems to pocket
and handheld devices such as smartphones
Figure 1. Research framework of user satisfaction
(Botha, Furnell, & Clarke, 2009). The mobile
devices such as smartphones were in the Table 1. Variables and measurement for user
growth to surpass the desktop on web browsing satisfaction
in this era of technology. Measurement on mobile devices /
Variable Code
desktop computer
Previous studies stated that user satisfaction in The display on the {mobile devices /
C1 desktop computer} provide the
different perspectives. Convenience, empathy, precise information I need.
ease of use, information quality, fun, reliability, The information content in {mobile
responsiveness, accessibility and freedom and C2 devices / desktop computer} meet
control are the factors that influences the user my needs
Content Display on the {mobile devices /
perspective in term of web desktop design desktop computer} provide the
(Kuo, Lu, Huang &Wu, 2005). Rouse (2015) C3
information to be just about exactly
stated that the layout, usability, content size, what I want.
number of control could affect user’s intention Display on the {mobile devices/
to reach the entire design in mobile apps. C4 desktop computer} provide sufficient
information.
Another perspective of authors categorized the The information display on {mobile
web design characteristics based on A1 devices/ desktop computer} is
atmospherics, new stories, signs, products and Accuracy
accurate.
services and overall effectiveness (Fink & I am satisfied with the accuracy of
A2 the information display on the
Laupase, 2002). {mobile devices/ desktop computer}.
The display is presented in a useful
User satisfaction can be examined by the F1 format in {mobile devices/ desktop
EUCS framework introduced by Doll and Format computer}.
The information is clearly display in
Tokazadeh (1988). EUCS gives an overall F2
{mobile devices/ desktop computer}.
satisfaction to the pleasurable degree with the EOU The {mobile devices/ desktop
fulfilment experienced of the user. The EUCS Ease of 1 computer} is user friendly.
framework consists of four variables that are Use EOU The {mobile devices / desktop
content, accuracy, format, ease of use and 2 computer} is easy to use.
I can get the information that I need
timeliness. Overall satisfaction of the user was T1 quickly in {mobile devices/ desktop
the key determinant for the entire system to computer}.
Timeliness
increase the usability. The website provides up-to-date
T2 information in {mobile devices/
desktop computer}.
3. METHODOLOGY

In this study a total of 260 Universiti Utara 4. FINDINGS

Malaysia students were randomly selected as
the respondent. Student is a group of internet The 80% (208) of the respondents are female
users that are actively using internet for their and 20% (52) are male. Most of the
education purposes (Sian et al., 2013). The respondents come from the group of 21 – 23
questionnaire was adapted from Doll and years old, with 205 respondents (79%). Majority
Torkzadeh (1988). Five variables was of the respondents using smartphone to access
employed to determine the user satisfaction the Internet which consists of 188 respondents
which are content, accuracy, format, ease of (72%) and 72 respondents (28%) tend to use
desktop or laptop when accessing the Internet.

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There are a total of 156 respondents that spend C3 3.65 4.04
more than 5 hours in accessing Internet per day
which is 60% from the total respondents and 97 C4 3.7 4.03
respondents (37%) spend 3 to 5 hours per day Average 3.73 4.03
to access Internet.
4.3. Accuracy
4.1. Reliability Analysis
The second variable that used to identify the
Cronbach’s alpha test has been performed on end user satisfaction in mobile devices and
the independent variables; content, accuracy, desktop computer is accuracy. The results as
format, ease of use and timeliness. Table 2 shown in Table 5, indicates that the students
shows the scores for each variable toward user are more satisfied with the accuracy of display
satisfaction on mobile device while Table 3 from desktop computer with the average mean
shows the scores for each variable toward user is 3.92 compared to 3.55 for mobile devices.
satisfaction on desktop computer. The result
indicate that the variables are consistent and Table 5: Descriptive Analysis of Accuracy
reliable because the Cronbach’s alpha for all
Mean Score
variables are 0.7 and above.
Mobile Devices Desktop Computer
Table 2. Cronbach’s alpha scores for variables
A1 3.54 3.92
toward user satisfaction on mobile devices
A2 3.55 3.92
Variables No of Items Cronbach's alpha
Average 3.55 3.92
Content 4 0.871
Accuracy 2 0.803 4.4. Format
Format 2 0.831
As for the format, the average mean for
Ease of Use 2 0.789 desktop computer is 4.09 compared to 3.62 for
Timeliness 2 0.761 mobile devices (Table 6). This indicates that
students are more satisfied with desktop
Table 3. Cronbach’s alpha scores for variables computer compare to mobile devices.
toward user satisfaction on desktop computer
Variables No of Items Cronbach's alpha Table 6. Descriptive Analysis of Format
Mean Score
Content 4 0.761
Mobile Devices Desktop Computer
Accuracy 2 0.776
Format 2 0.716 F1 3.64 4.09

Ease of Use 2 0.721 F2 3.59 4.08

Average 3.62 4.09
Timeliness 2 0.700

4.2. Content 4.5. Ease of Use

The variable content consists of four questions In term of ease of use students found that it is
which represented by C1, C2, C3, and C4. The easier to get information from large display of
results as shown in Table 4 indicates that the desktop computer compared to mobile devices.
students are satisfy with the display on desktop The mean averages are 4.08 and 3.88
computer compared to display on mobile respectively.
devices with the average mean values 4.03 and
Table 7. Descriptive Analysis of Ease of Use
3.73 respectively.
Mean Score
Table 4. Descriptive Analysis of Content
Mobile Devices Desktop Computer
Mean Score
EOU1 3.78 4.09
Mobile Devices Desktop Computer
EOU2 3.97 4.06
C1 3.82 4.04
Average 3.88 4.08
C2 3.72 4.01

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4.6. Timeliness the size constraint, the students also found that
the web page display on desktop computer
In term of timeliness the average mean score screen is easy to use and navigate rather than
for desktop computer (3.93) is slightly higher the mobile devices. This is in line with previous
compare to mobile devices (3.80). study by Thaneshan et al. (2017).

Table 6. Descriptive Analysis of Timeliness In term of timelines, this study shows that the
Mean Score display on desktop computer and mobile
devices does not give much effect on the
Mobile Devices Desktop Computer timeliness. In both desktop computer and
T1 3.84 3.95 mobile devices, students can get the same up-
to-date information from the web pages. The
T2 3.76 3.9
only constraint is that, on mobile devices
Average 3.80 3.93 students have to scroll to the bottom in order to
get the page update information.

5. DISCUSSION Overall the students’ satisfaction level on the

information display in desktop computer is
The findings show that student spend most of higher compare to the mobile devices.
their time in accessing Internet. Most of them Therefore, students tend to use desktop
spent minimum of 3 hours per day to access computer to access Internet rather than mobile
Internet. This is because students in Universiti devices. Mobile devices are mostly use during
Utara Malaysia are actively using Internet to travelling and mostly convenient for
communicate and engage in their class communication purposes.
discussion online. They also frequently access
the university portal to obtain the lectures 6. CONCLUSION
notes, slides, guidelines and other academic
materials. To access to the Internet, students To conclude, this study is important to
will use either desktop computer or understand the user satisfaction on mobile
smartphones. devices and desktop computer. The user
satisfaction is significant factor that can provide
The results show that the user satisfaction on an overview to the developer of mobile apps on
desktop computer is positive in terms of mobile devices and desktop computer. By
content, accuracy, format, ease of use and knowing the user satisfaction in different
timeliness compared to mobile devices. The angles, the developer can make the
content display on desktop computer could improvement on the web page design in order
provide clear information to the user as the to satisfy the user.
screen size for desktop is much bigger than
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