Download Antecedents Of Customer Loyalty In An E

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2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
Antecedents of customer loyalty in an e-commerce setting: an
empirical study
Dr. Norizan Mohd Kassim and Dr. Salaheldin Ismail, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of individual dimensions of perceived service quality on
satisfaction, trust and loyalty in an e-commerce setting. Empirical results indicate that only assurance has
positive direct effect on trust. Apparently trust does not appear to play an imperative role as suggested by many
authors. Some theoretical and managerial implications and suggestions for future research are also provided.
INTRODUCTION
Loyal customers are indeed crucial to business survival (Reichheld and Schefter, 2000; Semejin et al.,
2005). For that reason many companies use defensive marketing strategies to increase their market share and
profitability by maximizing customer retention (Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006). Although, traditionally, more effort
is dedicated to offensive strategies (Fornell, 1992), research has shown that defensive strategies can be more
profitable through increased cross selling, possibly at higher prices, and positive words of mouth (WOM)
communication.
In e-commerce setting, at its highest level, companies can use the Internet to deliver products and services
to their customers. They can have mutually rewarding relationships with customers they have never seen, met,
or spoke to. The entire relationship can successfully exist in cyberspace. With the technology available today,
they can sell their products or services over the Internet, respond to customer questions, offer additional
products and services based on previous purchases, and evaluate customers' satisfaction with their offerings―
all without dealing with the customer in person. Leveraging the Internet can free up resources to deliver higher
levels of value to customers in new ways. The Internet provides companies and consumers with opportunities
for much greater interaction and individualization.
Perceived service quality and customer satisfaction are dominating the marketing literature. However, the
relationships between the two constructs are debateable (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; 1994; Carman, 1990; Brown
and Swartz, 1989). Clearly, all companies need to consider and evaluate e-marketing and e-purchasing
opportunities. A key challenge is designing a site that is attractive on first viewing and interesting enough to
encourage repeat visits. They also face challenges in expanding the public's use of e-commerce. Customers will
have to feel that the information that they supply is confidential and not to be sold to others. They will need to
trust that online transactions are secure. Research suggests that up to 75 per cent of online shoppers do not
complete their purchase on the Internet. Instead they use e-commerce sites to find and research products or
services before completing their purchase either by phone or with a visit to a store location (Anderson and Kerr,
2002). They are becoming more open to competitive advances and are more familiar with brand and thus,
satisfaction alone may not be adequate to ensure long-term customer commitment to a single on-line service
provider (Heskett et al., 1994; Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003). Online companies often look beyond satisfaction
to developing trust in order to reduce the perceived risk of using the service. Perhaps, trust is also seen as being
a critical factor of considerable importance in the process of building and maintaining relationships in online
services (Corbitt et al., 2003; Gummerus et al., 2004; Reichheld and Schefter, 2000; Ribbink et al., 2004;
Semejin et al., 2005). The theoretical background and the empirical support for these issues come mostly from
developed countries.
The purpose of our study is to investigate the path service quality  customer satisfaction  trust 
loyalty drawing from the Middle East customers. Our study is expected to offer important managerial insights
because of the unique cultural characteristics of the Arab society and the examination of the influences from the
individual dimensions of constructs. Our paper unfolds as follows. First we presented a short review of current
research, followed by the methodology and the main results of our study. Then, we presented the theoretical and
managerial implications of the findings. Finally, we presented the limitations of the research and suggestions for
future research.
Service quality
The conceptual definition of service quality developed by Parasuraman et al. (1988) has been largely
employed for comparing excellence in the service encounters by customers (Rust and Oliver, 1994; Cronin and
Taylor, 1992; 1994). Bitner et al. (1990) defined service quality as the customers' overall impression of the
relative inferiority/superiority of a service provider and its services and is often considered similar to the
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customer's overall attitude towards the company (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Zeithaml, 1988; Bitner, 1990). This
definition of service quality covers several points. One of them is an attitude developed over all previous
encounters with a service firm (Bitner 1990; Bolton and Drew, 1991a; Parasuraman et. al., 1985; 1988). The
word ‘attitude’ includes outcome quality and process quality. Similarly, other researchers have termed outcome
quality as what the customer actually received and process quality as how the service is delivered (Groonroos,
1983). However, outcome quality is usually difficult for a customer to evaluate for any service because services
tend to have more experience and credence qualities (Zeithaml, 1988). This situation leads customers to include
process quality, that is, the service is evaluated by customers during its delivery (Swartz and Brown, 1989).
Hence, quality of service evaluation does not depend solely on the outcome quality of the service but also
involves evaluation of the process of service delivery. These components have a strong impact on future
expectations of a service firm but the relative impact of each may vary from service encounter to service
encounter (Bitner 1990; Groonroos 1984; Haywood-Farmer, 1988). This definition briefly describes quality of
service as the outcome and process quality of the service from all previous service encounters. Thus, the way a
product is evaluated by a customer depends on the extent to which it is tangible or intangible (Rushton and
Carson, 1993). Thus, both physical goods and services are conceptualized to fall on the continuum ranging from
tangible to intangible. In e-commerce setting, perceived service quality is defined as the consumers' overall
judgment of the excellence and quality of e-service offerings in the virtual market place (Kim et. al., 2006;
Santos, 2003) where there are almost no face-to-face interactions.
The SERVQUAL scale
Incidentally, measures of service quality have been discussed by academic researchers (for example, Cronin
and Taylor 1992; Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1985, 1988; Teas 1993). For example traditional
SERVQUAL or "gap analysis model" was developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in the early 1980s
which is based on the view that customers assess service quality by comparing expectations of services provided
with perceptions of the actual service received from a particular service provider. Through the use of gaps
scores, a set of five service quality dimensions (namely: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and
empathy) across a broad spectrum of service industries are identified. Many studies (Singh, 1991; Smith, 1999;
Finn and Lamb, 1991) that employed SERVQUAL were never successful in retaining all of the 22 items of the
five dimensions, although they were pre-validated by Parasuraman et al. (1988). As a result of further diagnostic
assessment (Parasuraman et al., 1994) to their initial 22 items, these were collapsed into three categories:
reliability and tangibles, while responsiveness, assurance and empathy were found to be loaded into one factor.
In the service marketing literature, however, there has been some debate concerning the appropriate manner
to operationalize the service quality construct, the causal order between satisfaction and quality, and the process
by which customer update the evaluation of quality (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; 1994; Carman, 1990; Brown and
Swartz, 1989; Buttle 1996; Bebko, 2000; Tsoukatos and Rand 2006). Even though currently there is a lack of
consensus in the literature, it has been the most extensively and successfully used service quality measurement
in the 21st century (Tsoukatos and Rand 2006).
There have been several researches on the dimensions (or components) of service quality in e-commerce
setting. The effects of these dimensions on customer satisfaction (i.e. both as an antecedent and mediator to
loyalty) have been well-conceptualized and well-researched (Gummerus et al., 2004; Ribbink et al., 2004;
Szymanski and Hise, 2000; Van Riel et al., 2004). Many empirical studies, however, have been conducted to
date to uncover the underlying key dimensions of service quality (Ribbink et al., 2004; Srinivasan et al., 2002;
Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003; Yang et al., 2003; Zeithaml et al., 2000; 2002)― ease of use, web site design,
responsiveness, personalization or customization, and assurance.
The ease of use dimension is indeed an essential element of customer usage of computer technologies
(Davis, 1989; Morris and Turner, 2001; Ribbink et al., 2004), and is of particular importance for new users
(Gefen and Straub, 2000; Ribbink et al., 2004). In fact, ease of use is a determinant of service quality
(Dabholkar, 1996) and is decisive for customer satisfaction, since it enhances the efficiency of using the service.
This dimension includes items such as functionality, accessibility of information, ease of ordering and
navigation (Reibstein, 2002; Ribbink et al., 2004). In fact, this dimension also reflects the service provider's
competence and therefore induces trust (Gummerus et al., 2004). Ease of use dimension can also be understood
as the tangible dimension of the traditional SERVQUAL dimension.
Previous studies (Van Riel et al., 2004; Wolfinbarger and Gilly 2003; Zeithaml et al., 2002) suggest that in
creating satisfaction, the web site design dimension is important because it is directly related to the user
interface. The web site design dimension can also be understood as the tangible dimension of the traditional
SERVQUAL dimension. This dimension includes content, organization and structure of the site which are
visually appealing, fascinating and pleasing to the eye. It is also assumed that a web site interface often directly
affects the perceived trustworthiness of the system (Luo et al., 2006). That is, the first impression of a retailing
website may strongly affect the development of trust, and effective communication may facilitate trust
maintenance (Egger, 2000). For example, the graphic elements of usability or content design were most likely to
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2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
communicate trust in an e-commerce setting. Ease of use dimension can also be understood as the tangible
dimension of the traditional SERVQUAL dimension.
The responsiveness dimension can be understood as the responsiveness dimension of the traditional
SERVQUAL (Zeithaml et al., 2002). This dimension has been identified by customers as an element of highquality service (Voss, 2000). It measures a company's ability and willingness to provide prompt service when
customers have questions/problems (Zeithaml et al., 2002). Understanding customer requirements and
developing the service based on responsive feedback enhances service satisfaction and also trust (Gummerus et
al., 2004). However, in practice, many companies have failed on this dimension (Kaynama and Black, 2000).
The personalization or customization dimension can be also understood as the empathy dimension of the
traditional SERVQUAL (Zeithaml et al., 2002). It reflects the degree to which information or service is tailored
to meet the needs of the individual visitor (Lee, 2005). This dimension has become more important and is an
essential part of online service quality (Zeithaml, 2000). The concept of personalization consist of four
components in e-commerce setting: personal attention, preferences, understanding the specific needs of
customers and information regarding the products modification.
Finally, the assurance dimension concerns with the customer's perceived security and privacy. In the service
quality literature, trust could also be thought as "trust in the service itself" (Parasuraman et al., 1985; 1988).
Such a relationship is crucial to managing trust, because a customer typically must buy a service before
experiencing it. These items are related to issues such as online transaction security, customer trust in online
organization and privacy (Cai and Jun, 2003; Ribbink et al., 2004). Privacy, security and ethics are important
elements in e-commerce setting (Eriksson et al., 2005; Mukherjee and Nath, 2003; Wang et al., 2003). The
usage intention of online services could be affected by users' perceptions of credibility regarding security and
privacy (Wang et al., 2003). Security refers to the protection of information or systems from unsanctioned
intrusions or outflows. Fear of lack of security has been identified in most studies as affecting the use of online
services. Privacy, on the other hand, refers to the protection of various types of data that are collected (with or
without the knowledge of the user) during users' interactions with the online system which may also affect the
usage of the systems. Therefore, perceived fears of service provider's divulging personal information to others
and the feelings of insecurity of the users provide unique challenges to the growth and development of online
services. Hence, customers' concerns about privacy and security may also accentuate the diversity of the privacy
issue among them (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000). However, Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) found no effect
of security/privacy on customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Importance of trust
Trust is an important construct catalyst in many transactional relationships. For example, in the
commitment-trust relationship marketing literature, trust has been conceptualised as existing when one party has
confidence in a partner's reliability and integrity (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Ranaweera and Phrabu, 2003).
Indeed trust could exist at the individual level (Rotter, 1967) or at the firm level (Moorman et al., 1993).
Furthermore, trust when conceptualised as a dimension of technology acceptance model (TAM), could also has
been thought of having a striking influence on user willingness to engage in online exchanges of money and
personal sensitive information (e.g., Hoffman et al., 1999; Friedman et al., 2000; Wang et al., 2003). Thus,
perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness may not fully reflect the users' intention to adopt Internet
banking (Eriksson et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2003). On the other hand, in the service quality literature, trust
could also be thought as "trust in the service itself" (Parasuraman et al., 1985; 1988). Such a relationship is
crucial to managing trust, because a customer typically must buy a service before experiencing it. Recent
research suggests that satisfaction alone may not be adequate to ensure long-term customer commitment to a
single service provider (e.g., Heskett et al., 1994; Schneider and Bowen, 1999; Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003).
Instead, it may be necessary to look beyond satisfaction to other variables that strengthen retention such as trust
(Hart and Johnson, 1999). This view is consistent with research on marketing channels, which shows that firms
often look beyond satisfaction to developing trust in order to ensure economically viable, long-term
relationships (e.g. Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Trust is seen as being of considerable importance in the process of
building and maintaining relationships, although it is also recognised as being difficult to manage (Bejou et al.,
1998).
Although the consequence of trust in business-to-customer relationship has been firmly established, the
trust construct has been used in a somewhat ambivalent manner (Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003). For example,
Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) used trust (together with assurance) as a dimension of the service quality
construct. Gremler and Brown (1996) proposed trust as a conceptual antecedent of customer loyalty. Gwinner et
al. (1998) proposed trust as a confidence benefit rated highly by customers in long-term relational exchange
with service firms. On the other hand, Tax et al. (1998) found trust, together with commitment to be a
consequence of satisfaction with complaint handling. However, Levesque and McDougall (2000) indicate that
complaint handling could have a qualitative different impact on trust from that on satisfaction. In a research of
online banking customers, Mukherjee and Nath (2003) did look at trust as a driver of customer relationship
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commitment. They found that trust has a significant positive influence on relationship commitment. These
findings suggest that where customers maintain long-term contractual relationship (similar to the context of
current research) with their online service providers, trust would be likely to be a strong driver of customer
relationship commitment or loyalty.
Relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and trust
Although the discussions in the marketing literature largely support the performance-based over the
disconfirmation-based evaluation of service quality, there are different opinions regarding the conceptual
relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality (Bolton and Drew, 1991a; 1991b; Cronin and
Taylor, 1992). Furthermore, both service quality and customer’s experience interact to form a satisfaction, and
this process can be complex (Carsky and Steinberg, 1993). For example, academics are concerned with the
causal link between service quality and customer satisfaction while practitioners are only interested in how
customer repurchase intention behavior can be predicted (Bolton and Drew, 1991a; 1991b; Cronin and Taylor,
1992).
The literature is confused about this relationship between customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction and service
quality (Chong et al., 1997) and there are three theories about it, as shown in figure 1. In the first theory,
customer satisfaction is described as a judgment on the basis of a specific service encounter (Bolton and Drew,
1991; Cronin and Taylor, 1992) while service quality is considered a global judgment or attitude regarding the
superiority of the service (Parasuraman et al., 1988). This judgment agrees with Oliver’s (1981) view that
satisfaction is an emotional reaction which influences attitude and is consumption-specific. From this
perspective, customer satisfaction should be limited to transaction-specific judgments and service quality to
long-term attitudes (Cronin and Taylor, 1994). Consequently, the cumulative effect of service encounter
satisfactions should lead to a global evaluation of service quality over time (Parasuraman et al., 1994). Thus,
customers’ satisfaction/dissatisfaction is an antecedent of service quality (Bitner, 1990; Bitner and Hubbert,
1994; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Oliver, 1981).
Figure 1 Competing theories about the causal relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction/dissatisfaction
Theory one
Antecedent
Customer satisfaction/
dissatisfaction
Theory two
Service quality
Antecedent
Customer satisfaction/
dissatisfaction
Service quality
Theory three
Antecedent
Customer satisfaction/
dissatisfaction
Service quality
Source: developed for this study, adapted from Chong, Kennedy, Riquire and Rungie (1997), Dabholkar (1993)
and Teas (1993)
In contrast, the second theory indicates that service quality is an antecedent of customer satisfaction and
that customer satisfaction exerts a stronger influence on future purchase intentions than does service quality
(Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Gotlieb et al., 1994; Woodside et al., 1989). The
argument supporting service quality as an antecedent of satisfaction is that customers do not necessarily
purchase the highest quality service, but may also weigh convenience, price and availability factors (Cronin and
Taylor, 1994). In addition, satisfaction appears to be a broader, more inclusive concept that is based upon
perceived service quality and other factors (Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). Moreover, customer satisfaction
appears to be a combination of cognitive and affective elements (Dabholkar, 1995; Woodruff et al., 1993) while
service quality seems to be mainly cognitive (Bitner, 1990; Parasuraman et al., 1985). Indeed, when feeling
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satisfied, the affective components may be more important for customers than cognitive aspects (Dabholkar,
1995; Oliver, 1989; Westbrook, 1987).
Next, consider the third theory about the process by which customers update their evaluation of quality.
Service quality can be a global judgment, that is, service quality is updated each time the customers experience
the service (Boulding et al., 1993). In other words, this third theory proposes that customer satisfaction and
service quality can be examined at both transaction-specific and global perspectives (Dabholkar, 1993; Teas,
1993). Thus, due to the lack of consensus in the literature about the causal link between service quality and
customer satisfaction and the process by which customers update their evaluations, Dabholkar (1993, p. 16)
states that quality and satisfaction are interchangeable:
…in terms of a transactional or a global perspective both service quality and customer satisfaction can be
conceptualized and measured in relation to an overall evaluation of the service, a given service experience,
or specific aspects of the service. Research objectives should determine the perspective applied to the
construct.
Indeed, both satisfaction and service quality have been conceptualized as acting jointly on intentions and
higher purchasing intentions are reported when both perceived service quality and satisfaction levels are high
(Taylor and Baker, 1994). Importantly, despite the disagreements about the linkages and dimensions of quality
and satisfaction, most researchers agree that service quality or satisfaction comprises dimensions that are both
measurable and variable. Moreover, the findings across studies support the contention that service dimensions
would lead to ‘important actions’ that customers might take after the consumption (Asubonteng et al., 1996, p.
66). These important actions include willingness to return and willingness to recommend (Woodside et al.,
1989).
Our view of the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction draws conceptually from the
second theory proposed in the literature, i.e. perceived service quality is an antecedent of customer satisfaction.
This choice is supported by other marketing researchers who suggest that customer satisfaction exerts a stronger
influence on future purchase intentions than does perceived service quality (Anderson and Sullivan, 1990;
Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Gotlieb et al., 1994; Woodside et al., 1989). To that effect we hypothesize:
H1a:
Ease of use is positively related to customer satisfaction in an e-commerce setting
H1b:
Web site design is positively related to customer satisfaction in an e-commerce setting
H1c:
Responsiveness is positively related to customer satisfaction in an e-commerce setting
H1d:
Customization is positively related to customer satisfaction in an e-commerce setting
H1e:
Assurance is positively related to customer satisfaction in an e-commerce setting
Also, the existence of trust in a relationship is a kind of insurance against risks and unexpected behaviour.
Trust partly depends on experience from interacting with another party. For example, a customer who has been
doing business with a service provider for sometime and is pleased with the results is inclined to trust that
service provider. Trust towards a system according to Gronroos (2001) depends not only on the laws, industry
regulations and contracts but also on the professionalism of the other party. If a customer, for example, has
entered into a long-term contract with a service provider, the customer trusts that the service provider will
perform according to expectations. We thus hypothesize:
H2a:
Ease of use is positively related to trust in e-commerce setting
H2b:
Web site design is positively related to trust in e-commerce setting
H2c:
Responsiveness is positively related to trust in e-commerce setting
H2d:
Customization is positively related to trust in e-commerce setting
H2e:
Assurance is positively related to trust in e-commerce setting
Importance of customer loyalty
Loyalty is behaviorally expressed by retention (Bansal and Taylor, 1999). Retention of current customers or
loyalty is of interest to many researchers (for example, Dowling and Uncle, 1997; Ganesh et al., 2000; Mittal
and Lassar, 1998; Zeithaml, 2000). Furthermore, it drives the notion of relationship marketing (Marshall and
Javalgi, 1995). The emphasis on customer retention is justified by the lesser cost of retaining a customer than
obtaining a new one (Fornell, 1992; Fornell and Wernerfelt, 1987; Keaveney, 1995; Reichheld and Kenny,
1990; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990).
In contrast, an offensive marketing strategy aims to attract new customers (Fornell and Wernerfelt, 1987).
Traditionally, offensive marketing seeks to attract new customers through advertising, sales promotion, pricing
and product (Danaher and Rust, 1996). However, high quality can attract new customers, either by
communicating high quality through advertising or by having the firm’s customers communicate through wordof-mouth (Boulding et al., 1993; Danaher and Rust, 1996; Heskett et al., 1994; Levesque and McDougall, 1996;
Zeithaml et al., 1996). For example, research has consistently found a relationship between service quality and
likeliness or willingness to recommend by saying positive things about the organization.
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Furthermore, a company can presumably increase its revenues and profits by inducing its existing
customers to increase their usage (Danaher and Rust, 1996). In other words, the company can do more business
with its existing customers and thus make its customer more profitable. This profitability is assumed to result
from quality because higher quality leads to satisfied customers (Anderson et al., 1994; Cronin and Taylor,
1992; Danaher and Rust, 1996; Parasuraman et al., 1988). Moreover, satisfied customers tend to use more of a
service or product (Danaher and Rust, 1996). Thus, building relationships is a form of cross-selling in the
traditional sense where many companies focus on selling additional products and services to their existing
customers. Nurturing the relationships pertains to the use of products and services by existing customers. Upselling involves marketing of higher value products or services to existing customers. According to Anderson
and Kerr (2002) one of the three rules for success on the road of e-commerce is to make it personal.
As mentioned in the section 4 above, the findings across studies support the contention that service quality
dimensions would lead to ‘important actions’ that customers might take after the consumption (Asubonteng et
al., 1996, p. 66). Loyalty is a behavioral expressed emotionally (Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003) by word-of
mouth; the extent to which customers are willing to inform others on service incidents that have given them
satisfaction (Soderlund, 1998). The objective is to optimize the use of products and service capabilities that the
customer currently has in order to increase his or her well-being, and to boost the firm's profitability. Thus, we
hypothesize:
H3:
H4:
H5:
H6:
H7:
Customer satisfaction is positively related to recommendation in an e-commerce setting
Customer satisfaction is positively related to intention in an e-commerce setting
Trust is positively related to recommendation in an e-commerce setting
Trust is positively related to intention in an e-commerce setting
Recommendation is an antecedent of intention in an e-commerce setting
METHODLOGY
This research was carried out in three stages. Complete details are provided in the subsequent paragraphs and so
only a brief introduction is required here. In summary, in stage one, a questionnaire was designed to measure
service quality, to evaluate the customers' satisfaction and trust and to assess the sentimental and behavioral
dimensions of their loyalty towards their online service providers. Then, stage two involved the administration
of the questionnaire for data collection and the appraisal of the measurement method. Finally, in the third stage,
structural equation modeling was used to establish the causal relations between the construct.
First stage
The questionnaire was divided into three parts. It began with the general information pertaining to
respondents' internet usage and their perceptions of the online products or services. Part two dealt with the
respondents' assessment of the service quality, satisfaction, trust and loyalty. The perceived service quality
construct was based on the traditional SERVQUAL conceptualization (Parasuraman et al., 1985; 1988; Zeithaml
et. al., 2000) in an e-commerce setting which employed 20 Likert-scale items. The customer satisfaction (four
related items), trust (five related items) and loyalty (four related items) included measures from a scale by
Ribbink et al., (2004). All items were measured with a six-point modified Likert scale, anchored by (1) strongly
disagree and (6) strongly agree. Part three consisted of a series of respondents’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, age, marital status, education, occupation and income. This
information was asked at the end of the questionnaire because of its private and personal nature. The
questionnaire was translated back-to-back to ensure functional equivalence of its items in two languages
(EnglishArabicEnglish).
Stage two – data collection and appraisal of the scale
A personally-administered questionnaire method was employed for the survey. A representative crosssection of the Qatari and non-Qatari population was included in the sample. Respondents who had and had not
previously used the e-commerce services were included in the sample. The survey was conducted over a period
of six weeks. Of a total of 300 questionnaires distributed 218 respondents responded in which 72.7 per cent
were Qataris and only 28.3 per cent were resident permit holders (non-Qataris). The majority of the respondents
were male (54.1 percent) between 22 to 40 years of age (76.7 percent). Most respondents (60.6 percent) had
obtained college degrees with monthly income levels between QR5,001 to QR25,000 (66.5 percent) (1 USD =
QR3.65). The representativeness of the sample of respondents could not be compared with the population from
which the sample was drawn because there was no other surveys or data about the population of e-commerce
users in Qatar available.
To test the dimensionality of the instrument, all the 20 items were analyzed using oblique rotation (Jabnoun
and Al-Tamimi, 2002). The criterion of meaningful factor loading was set to 0.4 (Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006).
Using these criteria resulted in four-dimensional solution explaining 63.57 per cent of the variance. These
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factors are labeled user friendly design (UFD), responsiveness (REPN), customization (CUST) and assurance
(ASSURE). The same procedure was repeated using principal component extraction using varimax rotation.
This procedure resulted in the same four factors.
Table 1
Scale development sample factor means, standard deviations. and correlations
Mean Std. Dev. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1. UFD
4.65
0.76
1.00
2. REPN
4.21
0.97
0.48
1.00
3. CUST
4.30
0.86
0.55
0.47
1.00
4. ASSURE
3.88
1.24
0.34
0.27
0.47
1.00
5. TRUST
4.52
0.81
0.46
0.38
0.31
0.41
1.00
6. SAT
3.65
0.99
0.29
0.28
0.37
0.56
0.28
1.00
7. RECOMD
4.58
1.01
0.45
0.28
0.36
0.47
0.45
0.46
1.00
8. INTENT
4.44
1.02
0.49
0.32
0.39
0.46
0.46
0.40
0.63
1.00
Note: UFD = user friendly design; Resp = Responsiveness; Custom = Customization; Assure = Assurance;
SAT = Satisfaction; TRUST = Trust; RECOM = Word-of-mouth; and INTENT = Intention
All correlations are significant at p< 0.01
The sample factor means, standard deviation (std. dev.) and correlations are reported in table 1. AMOS
4 was used to perform a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to investigate the constructs dimensionality (see
table 2). The robust maximum likelihood estimation was used to allow for the absence of multivariate normality.
The initial CFA model for trust was not acceptable, so the approach suggested by Anderson and Gerbing (1988)
was utilized and one item was eliminated to achieve an acceptable fit as shown in table 2.
Table 2 Scale development sample data second-order CFA
UFD
REPN CUST
ASSURE
27.326 2.589
23.458 7.409
2
df
16
2
2
2
GFI
0.966
0.994
0.946
0.982
CFI
0.984
0.997
0.936
0.977
Standardized RMR
0.036
0.018
0.049
0.031
No. of items
4
4
4
4
Reliability
0.87
0.78
0.83
0.79
Composite
0.87
0.78
0.83
0.81
reliability (CR)
Average
variance 0.49
0.48
0.56
0.54
extracted (AVE)
SAT
8.384
2
0.981
0.979
0.035
4
0.81
0.81
TRUST
12.779
2
0.971
0.951
0.054
4
0.75
0.75
RECOMD
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
2
0.90
0.90
INTENT
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
2
0.76
0.76
0.53
0.45
0.82
0.61
RESULTS
A representative cross-section of the Qatari and non-Qatari population was included in the sample.
Respondents who had and had not previously used the e-commerce services were included in the sample. The
survey was conducted over a period of six weeks. Of a total of 300 questionnaires distributed 218 respondents
responded in which 72.7 per cent were Qataris and only 28.3 per cent were resident permit holders (nonQataris). The majority of the respondents were male (54.1 per cent) between 22 to 40 years of age (76.7 per
cent). Most respondents (60.6 per cent) had obtained college degrees with monthly income levels between
QR5,001 to QR25,000 (66.5 per cent) (1 USD = QR3.65). The representativeness of the sample of respondents
could not be compared with the population from which the sample was drawn because there was no other
surveys or data about the population of e-commerce users in Qatar available.
To test the dimensionality of the instrument, all the 20 items were analyzed using principal component
extraction using varimax rotation. The criterion of meaningful factor loading was set to 0.4 (Tsoukatos and
Rand, 2006). Using these criteria resulted in four-dimensional solution explaining 63.57 per cent of the variance.
These factors are labeled user-friendly design (UFD), responsiveness (REPN), customization (CUST) and
assurance (ASSURE). As shown in table 1, we can thus safely conclude that the model is valid and therefore,
we can continue to analyze the outcome of the hypothesized effects. The results of the analyses are discussed
below.
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Oxford, UK
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
Table 1 Full structural equation model
Path
Standardized path coefficients t-value
p-value
Results
H1a: Accepted
SAT
UFD
0.33
5.145
0.000

H1b: Accepted
SAT
REPN
0.15
2.590
0.010

H1c: Rejected
SAT
CUST
-0.06
-0.899
ns

H1d: Accepted
SAT
ASSURE
0.28
4.891
0.000

H2a: Rejected
Trust
UFD
0.04
0.504
ns

H2b: Rejected
Trust
REPN
0.09
1.395
ns

H2c: Rejected
Trust
CUST
0.08
1.099
ns

H2d: Accepted
Trust
ASSURE
0.49
7.745
0.000

H3:
Accepted
RECOMD 
SAT
0.33
5.607
0.000
H4:
Accepted
INTENT
SAT
0.59
5.081
0.000

H5:
Accepted
RECOMD 
TRUST
0.33
5.307
0.000
H6:
Rejected
INTENT
TRUST
0.05
0.847
ns

H7:
Accepted
INTENT
RECOMD
0.42
6.873
0.000

Model fit: 2 = (df =7) = 20.925, p< 0.004; CFI = 0.977, RMSEA = 0.050; All are significant at p< 0.01
Discussion
The standardized path coefficients () support that quality is an antecedent and that it positively affects
customer satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). The independent variables (UFD, responsiveness and
assurance) explain 30.9 per cent (R2 = 0.309) of the variance of dependent variable of customer satisfaction.
However, only the coefficient of customization variable is not (β = -0.06; tvalue = -1.227). This could be a
specific characteristic of the Qatari customers and by no means weakens the case that service quality is an
antecedent of satisfaction.
The argument that satisfaction is an antecedent and positively related to loyalty is also supported by the
findings. The paths coefficient from satisfaction to recommendation and intention are significant (RECOMD: β
= 0.33; tvalue = 5.607; INTENT: β = 0.59; tvalue = 5.081) where, overall it explains 31.8 per cent of recommend's
variance and 29.7 per cent of intent's variance respectively.
Also, the argument that trust is an antecedent and that it is positively related to loyalty (recommend) is
supported in the findings (β = 0.33; tvalue = 5.307) while the coefficient of quality as an antecedent of trust is not.
However, only the coefficient of assurance is significant (β = 0.49; tvalue = 6.873) where, overall it explains 33.5
per cent (R2 = 0.335) of trust's variance. This positive effect of assurance on trust supports a previous study that
investigated the relationship (Parasuraman, 2000; Ribbink et al., 2004). A possible explanation for this
phenomenon is that, in Qatar the Internet service is relatively new as compared to other developing countries.
As such, there are various psychological and behavioural issues such as distrust in the system, impersonal
treatment, a perceived lack of security, privacy, ethics, ease of use, openness, etc., that may appear to impede
the growth of Internet users (Kassim and Abdulla, 2006). Thus, the findings suggest that assurance is the most
critical ones. Trust does influence positively the customer's behavioral intentions but only through their
intentions to get engaged in positive WOM (recommending to others) for the online service provider.
We introduce a new path of word-of-mouth through recommendations to others as an antecedent of
behavioral intention. The path coefficient from recommend to intent is significant (β = 0.42; tvalue = 6.873).
Satisfaction and recommend as independent variables, explain 29.7 per cent the variance of intent as dependent
variable.
MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
The importance of our findings for managerial decision-making processes is evident. Online service providers
seeking to improve their customers' loyalty levels, in their effort to increase retention rates and attract new
customers through WOM (such as willingness to recommend the website to others) and behavioural loyalty
(such as continuing using or visiting the website and prefer the website). Of particular interest is the finding that
trust does not appear to play an imperative role as suggested by many authors. Still, a significant positive effect
of trust on loyalty was demonstrated. Consequently, it is not going to be enough for managers to just make the
system easy to interact with, attractive (on first viewing) and interesting enough to encourage repeat visits but to
develop online systems which are trustworthy, secured, and private for their users. Companies can therefore
increase customer loyalty directly by improving the user friendly design system and assurance dimensions of
their website. Thus, management attention might be fruitfully focused on the development of such beliefs on the
part of the users.
8
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ISBN : 978-0-9742114-7-3
2008 Oxford Business &Economics Conference Program
CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
The major contribution to this study is the adoption of a more comprehensive approach to investigating
determinants of loyalty than previous studies. The literature on the aggregate relationships between service
quality, customer satisfaction, trust and loyalty is quite rich but it is not the case when the construct's individual
dimensions are taken into account. Thus, this study has a wider coverage of the key dimensions of service
quality and their impact on loyalty in e-commerce setting. Comparative studies with other developed countries
could be also carried out in order to find out whether the effect of individual service quality dimensions in the
competitive mix may be greater or lesser than in other markets, and whether the effect of ease of use and
assurance on loyalty may be more or less. Since customer relationships are built over time, the cross-sectional
research cannot fully capture the dynamic, interactive, and non-linear nature of so many relationship variables.
Moreover, the research could be enhanced by expanding the current model. The role of cultural issues could be
investigated to add further depth to the model.
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Oxford, UK