Boosting Customer E-Loyalty: An Extended Scale of Online Service Quality

Abstract

The Customer trust, satisfaction and loyalty with regard to the provision of e-commerce services is expected to be critical factors for the assessment of the success of online businesses. Service quality and high-quality product settings are closely linked to these factors. However, despite the rapid advancement of e-commerce applications, especially in the context of business to consumer (B2C), prior research has confirmed that e-retailers face difficulties when it comes to maintaining customer loyalty. Several e-service quality frameworks have been employed to boost service quality by targeting customer loyalty. Among these prominent frameworks is the scale of online etail quality (eTailQ). This scale has been under criticism as it was developed before the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies. Consequently, this paper aims to fill this gap by offering empirically-tested and conceptually-derived measurement model specifications for an extended eTailQ scale. In addition, it investigates the potential effects of the extended scale on e-trust and e-satisfaction, and subsequently e-loyalty. The practical and theoretical implications are highlighted to help businesses to design effective business strategies based on quality in order to achieve enhanced customer loyalty, and to direct future research in the field of e-commerce.