The Role of Website Quality and Social Ties EWOM in E-Services Adoption

Abstract

With the service sector gaining momentum over the years, researchers feel that the relationship between service providers and customers must be explored, especially under online framework. This chapter proposes a conceptual model to study the behavioral intention (BI) to adopt e-services. The framework considers the interrelationship among the variables such as website service quality (WSQ), strong-ties electronic word-of-mouth (ST-EWOM), and perceived value (PV). Moreover, the authors attempt to study the moderation effect of weak-ties EWOM (WT-EWOM). To examine the relationship between these variables, they constructed a research model which is tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The hypothesis testing results show direct associations between the variables. They next verify the mediating role of perceived value between website service quality and intention to adopt as well as strong-ties EWOM and adoption intention. Moreover, the moderating effect of weak-ties EWOM are checked and are further validated graphically with the help of interaction effect approach.