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Corporate website accessibility: does legislation matter?

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Abstract

Over 600 million people worldwide have disabilities ranging from visual and hearing impairments to cognitive and motor skill issues. This number is only growing as “Baby Boomers” age. Previous research reveals that those organizations, such as federal agencies and colleges, which are mandated to have accessible websites, do indeed have higher levels of accessible websites than corporate sites do. This led to the current research, which aims at understanding what factors truly impact a company’s decision to provide an accessible website. The results of a global survey of managers from a variety of industries uncovered that the key factors for influencing a company’s level of website accessibility are the number of IT professionals employed by the firm, the level of accessibility testing performed, and whether the company is mandated to have an accessible website.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Cutter Benchmarking Review for its support in collecting the data used in this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Washburn Hall, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA

    Eleanor T. Loiacono & Soussan Djamasbi

Authors
  1. Eleanor T. Loiacono
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  2. Soussan Djamasbi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eleanor T. Loiacono.

Appendix: Abbreviated survey

Appendix: Abbreviated survey

(only those questions relevant to this study are included)

  1. 1.

    Prior to launch, did your website undergo…

     

    Scale

    Not at all 1

    Very little 2

    Some 3

    A fair amount 4

    A lot 5

    Don’t know 6

    1. (a)

      Usability testing

    2. (b)

      Accessibility testing

    3. (c)

      Secure audit testing

    4. (d)

      Load testing

  2. 2.

    Since launch, against which of the following industry standards and best practices has your website been re-tested? (Please select all that apply.)

    1. (a)

      CSS

    2. (b)

      x/html

    3. (c)

      W3C accessibility

    4. (d)

      Usability

    5. (e)

      None

    6. (f)

      Other (please specify):

  3. 3.

    Which level of accessibility does your site adhere to? (Please select all that apply.)

    1. (a)

      Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level 1

    2. (b)

      WCAG 2.0 Level 2

    3. (c)

      WCAG 2.0 Level 3

    4. (d)

      US government Section 508

    5. (e)

      None

    6. (f)

      Don’t Know

    7. (g)

      Other (please specify):

  4. 4.

    Is it a legal requirement that your website adhere to W3C accessibility standards?

    1. (a)

      Yes

    2. (b)

      No

    3. (c)

      Don’t know

  5. 5.

    Do you know what proportion of your target market requires your website to be accessible?

    1. (a)

      Yes

    2. (b)

      No

  6. 6.

    What proportion of your target market requires your website to be accessible?

    1. (a)

      100%

    2. (b)

      85–99%

    3. (c)

      70–84%

    4. (d)

      55–69%

    5. (e)

      40–54%

    6. (f)

      25–39%

    7. (g)

      10–24%

    8. (h)

      <10%

    9. (i)

      0%

  7. 7.

    Does your organization use people with disabilities to test your website?

     

    Scale

    Not at all 1

    Very little 2

    Some 3

    A fair amount 4

    A lot 5

    Don’t know 6

  8. 8.

    When your organization uses people with disabilities to test your website, what types of disabilities do the testers have? (Please select all that apply.)

    1. (a)

      Visual impairments

    2. (b)

      Mobility issues

    3. (c)

      Cognitive Impairments

    4. (d)

      Other (Please specify):

  9. 9.

    How would you best describe your company?

    1. (a)

      Aerospace Manufacturing

    2. (b)

      Association/Foundation

    3. (c)

      Automotive Manufacturing (including parts)

    4. (d)

      Building Construction/Engineering/Design

    5. (e)

      Colleges & Universities

    6. (f)

      Commercial Research

    7. (g)

      Computer Consulting

    8. (h)

      Computer Hardware Manufacturer

    9. (i)

      Computer Software Publisher

    10. (j)

      Financial Services

    11. (k)

      Government (non-military)

    12. (l)

      Management Consulting/Accounting

    13. (m)

      Medical & Health Services

    14. (n)

      Military

    15. (o)

      Non-Commercial Research

    16. (p)

      Oil/Chemical Manufacturing

    17. (q)

      Other Electronics Manufacturing

    18. (r)

      Other Manufacturing

    19. (s)

      Outsourcing/Web Services/ISPs

    20. (t)

      Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

    21. (u)

      Publishing/Media

    22. (v)

      Telecommunications

    23. (w)

      Transportation/Storage

    24. (x)

      Utility

    25. (y)

      Wholesale/Retail Trade/Distribution

  10. 10.

    In which region is your organization headquartered?

    1. (a)

      North America

    2. (b)

      South America

    3. (c)

      Asia

    4. (d)

      Europe

    5. (e)

      Middle East

    6. (f)

      Africa

    7. (g)

      India

    8. (h)

      Australia/Pacific

  11. 11.

    How many IT professionals work in your organization?

    1. (a)

      1 IT Professional

    2. (b)

      2–4 IT Professionals

    3. (c)

      5–9 IT Professionals

    4. (d)

      10–19 IT Professionals

    5. (e)

      20–49 IT Professionals

    6. (f)

      50–99 IT Professionals

    7. (g)

      100–499 IT Professionals

    8. (h)

      500–999 IT Professionals

    9. (i)

      More than 1,000 IT Professionals

  12. 12.

    How would you classify the size of your company by number of employees?

    1. (a)

      1–10 employees

    2. (b)

      11–50 employees

    3. (c)

      51–100 employees

    4. (d)

      101–500 employees

    5. (e)

      501–1,000 employees

    6. (f)

      1,001–5,000 employees

    7. (g)

      50,001–100,000 employees

    8. (h)

      10,001–50,000 employees

    9. (i)

      50,001–100,000 employees

    10. (j)

      More than 100,000 employees

  13. 13.

    What is your organizations approximate annual revenue in US dollars?

    1. (a)

      Less than $1 million

    2. (b)

      $1–$10 million

    3. (c)

      More than $10–$50 million

    4. (d)

      More than $50–$100 million

    5. (e)

      More than $100 million–$1 billion

    6. (f)

      More than $1–$10 billion

    7. (g)

      More than $10–$50 billion

    8. (h)

      More than $50 billion

  14. 14.

    What is your organization’s annual IT budget in US dollars?

    1. (a)

      Less than $100,000

    2. (b)

      $100,000–$500,000

    3. (c)

      More than $500,000–$1 million

    4. (d)

      More than $1–$5 million

    5. (e)

      More than $5–$10 million

    6. (f)

      More than $10–$50 million

    7. (g)

      More than $50–$100 million

    8. (h)

      More than $100–$500 million

    9. (i)

      More than $500 million

    10. (j)

      Don’t know

  15. 15.

    Please specify what country your organization is headquartered.

    1. (a)

      (List of all countries given to select from)

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Loiacono, E.T., Djamasbi, S. Corporate website accessibility: does legislation matter?. Univ Access Inf Soc 12, 115–124 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0269-1

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