Assessing the Usability of Union Web Sites

ABSTRACT This study examines the usability of union websites. Unions have suffered steep declines in membership, and some see the internet as a potential ally in the attempt to reverse these declines. However, there are questions concerning unions' use of cyberspace to revitalize organizing. This study applies the Microsoft Usability Guidelines in a framework developed by Agarwal and Venkatesh (2002) to assess the usability of union websites. The union sites examined in this study scored high in terms of usability, when compared to previously assessed sites, indicating that unions are putting effort into creating useful web sites. INTRODUCTION Unions in the United States have suffered steep declines in membership over the past thirty-five years; in 1973, 24 percent of workers were union members while in 2006 that percentage has declined to 12 percent. While the decline is steep, the aggregate data mask an even steeper decline for private sector unions. In the same period of time the percentage of workers covered by unions in the private sector has moved from 24.2 % of workers covered to 7.4 percent of workers covered (Hirsch & Macpherson, 2007). This crisis for unions is further documented when one considers that the year 2004 was the worst on record for union organizing (Grossman, 2005). In order to attract new members and reverse the declines in union membership, unions must be willing to change and to try new methods. Early research on organizing campaigns found that innovation is essential to organizing success (Fiorito, Jarley & Delaney, 1993). Relatively recently, unions have turned to the internet as a means to inform members and to reach out to the unorganized. Currently, all national unions now have web sites, and while some researchers see the internet as a potentially powerful means to reach out (Shostak, 1999), other researchers question the impact that unions' use of the internet can have on union organizing (Chaison, 2002; Troy, 2003). In any case, if unions are going to make effective use of the internet, one challenge they face is to develop web sites that are usable and that contain content that visitors to the sites will find useful. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current usability of union websites. THE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BY UNIONS The use of the internet has been hailed as a means to empower unions for many years to come (Shostak, 1999) and as a way for labor to reinvent itself (Shostak, 2005). Union leadership feels that an emphasis on information technology is critical for their success (Fiorito, Jarley, Delaney & Kolodinsky, 2000), and that web sites and email provide members with "voice" (a term referring to the role that unions play in giving employees a venue for expressing themselves) and that technology also aids in disseminating information to members and the public (Stevens & Greer, 2005). Given this emphasis one would expect careful attention would be paid to the development of usable websites, but some analysts have characterized the use of information technology by unions as "slow and uneven" particularly when it comes to using the technology in organizing efforts (Pinnock, 2005). Troy (2003) argues that cyberspace has not improved union organizing efforts and will not reverse the downward trends in membership. Given that the target audience for organizing is non-union workers he thinks that the creation of "virtual unions" will have about as much success in influencing their target audience as the "union label" campaign did in persuading people to buy union-made goods. Unions also face unique challenges posed by the web. Chaison (2005) notes three in particular: the use of employer intranets as a substitute for the traditional "voice" role of unions, the potential difficulties in organizing IT workers due to the physical and psychological distance of these employees from the workplace, and the possibility of changes in relationships with members caused by unions' development of web pages. …