Electronic service quality in online shopping and risk reduction strategies

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate risk reduction strategies in online shopping through the perspective of buyer’s trust. Design/methodology/approach – An explanatory research approach is adopted to identify cause-and-effect relationships between e-quality and customers’ loyalty, satisfaction and trust. This approach is accomplished through field research, which is based on a structured questionnaire that utilizes the E-S-QUAL tool, which is a multiple-item general scale for measuring electronic service quality. The sample is consisted of 92 e-buyers (consumers). Findings – The field research revealed that three e-quality dimensions, namely, ease of use, customization and assurance, e-scape and responsiveness, have significant positive effects on e-loyalty and e-satisfaction. Regarding e-trust, only customization and assurance exerts a significant positive effect. Research limitations/implications – The field research provides in-depth understanding of relationships among e-loyalty, e-satisfaction and e-trust. The majority of the respondents are young people living in Athens, Greece, highly educated, with a relative low monthly income. Originality/value – This study investigates how trust is affecting the consumers’ engagement to e-commerce, suggesting the appropriate security that should be taken to mitigate perceived risks. Reviewing security measures can help reduce risks of an e-company and simultaneously enforce the level of trust and customers' intentions to buy.

Online Service Quality Determinants and E-trust in Internet Shopping: A Psychometric Approach

“…Therefore, trust can be enhanced more when perceived usefulness is given due consideration rather than reliability only. These findings are in accordance with the findings of Kuo (2003), Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) and Vos et al (2014), who have observed that reliability is a basic building block of online service quality and positively influences the perceived usefulness of webstores towards consumers. Therefore, efforts should be made to convert low-frequency e-consumers into regular consumers by addressing web information and reliability issues.…”

“…In the present study, reliability is operationalized as the accurate display and description of products and services so that customer receives products that they have ordered on promised time (Vos et al, 2014). It is considered one of the critical factors in e-service quality because most of the websites provide customers with information about the order’s status via mail or SMS.…”

From E-Quality and Brand Perceptions to Repurchase: A Model to Explain Purchase Behaviour in a Web-Store

“…The lack of confidence caused by the absence of security and privacy is considered a major obstacle to online commerce development [84], [135]. Online buyer confidence tends to be reinforced by the ability of online sellers to assess and fulfil customer needs and expectations [128]. Thus, online customers prefer to make their purchases from websites they trust [59].…”

“…Hence, an ampler model than is to be found in previous research literature is offered to explain customer loyalty in a web-store. Although many of the constructs outlined here have been partially related to each other in previous studies [66], [79], [92], [112], [128], new relationships are also proposed here for analysis and discussion (such as the effects of store brand and product brand on a web-store and the relationships between trust and behavioural intentions with repurchase patterns in the same context). In addition, according to the authors' best review of the literature, no previous empirical web-store model takes repurchase (rate or pattern) as its final dependent variable, going only as far as behavioural intentions to repurchase.…”

The Effect of Brand Perceptions on Repurchase When Using the E-Commerce Website for Shopping

“…The lack of confidence caused by the absence of security and privacy is regarded as a major impediment in obtaining online commerce development (Long & McMellon, 2004). Confidence in online buyers are reinforced by the ability of online sellers to assess as well as fulfil customer needs and expectations (Giannakopoulos et al, 2014). In other words, online customers prefer to make their purchases from the websites that they trust (Vásquez & Vera-Martínez, 2020).…”