The effects of service on multichannel retailers ' brand equity

Abstract

Purpose -This research aims to provide insight on the interactive effects of service quality and e-service quality on perceptions of retailer brand equity and also extend and test the efficacy of Baker's service environment typology in both offline and online service experiences. Design/methodology/approach -A within-subjects, simulated shopping experience immerses consumers in both offline and online shopping environments and, subsequently, consumers are surveyed regarding both offline and online quality as well as aggregated evaluations of retailer brand equity. Findings -Results demonstrate that consumer perceptions of offline and online service quality have a positive effect on retailer brand equity and service quality and e-service quality interact, such that e-service quality has a stronger effect on brand equity offline quality is low. The results also support the application of offline service environment frameworks for online retailing.Research limitations/implications -The results demonstrate the applicability of Baker's typology in both online and offline environments and reveal that customer perceptions of offline and online operations can interact to affect global attitudes toward the retailer. Practical implications -The results suggest that retailers can improve quality perceptions by enhancing both their offline and online service environments and that these quality improvements can result in enhanced consumer perceptions of brand equity. Originality/value -This study provides a first look at the applicability of offline frameworks for the service environment in an online context. Moreover, the results provide an initial assessment of how consumers update global attitudes toward a brand by consolidating perceptions across both offline and online interactions.

The mediation of cognitive attitude for online shopping

“…However, recent studies did not investigate online shopping behavior of the basic needs from consumers point of view, but explored online shopping behavior of consumers from other perspectives, such as E-service quality and environment (Hsiao et al, 2015;White et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2013. ), online communication mechanism (Shih et al, 2013.…”

Understanding the effect of smart retail brand – Consumer communications via mobile instant messaging (MIM) – An empirical study in the Chinese context

“…SOR has been demonstrated to be applicable in the online shopping context (see, for example, Kim and Johnson, 2016;Liu et al, 2016). Environmental inputs are often analyzed within the SOR paradigm, and the influences of social factors are frequently evaluated within distinct organisms such as e-service quality (White, Joseph-Mathews and Voorhees, 2013), cognition, and affect (Li et al, 2012). Wang et al (2007) integrates social response theory and SOR to create a conceptual model to examine the effects of web site socialness perceptions on pleasure and arousal.…”

Effect of Dimensions of Service Quality on the Brand Equity in the Fast Food Industry

“…Although the consumer-based brand equity in the field of services is essentially different from the product-based brand equity and with regard to the importance of the fast food industry ready for customers and considering that the branding is considered as a factor for creating competitive advantage in the service industries, the majority of the researches have focused on the development of the service quality criteria in the specific fields such as retail industries (Dabholkar et al, 1996), online services (Rabinovich, 2007) and have more focus to examine the behavioral consequences of quality of services such as positive verbal advertising, loyalty (Zeithaml et al, 1996) and associating the quality of services with other marketing important concepts, such as the perceived value and customer's satisfaction (Caruana et al, 2000); fewer previous researches have investigated experimentally the correlation between the perceived service quality of the restaurant customers and the customer-based brand equity (Berry, 2000;He & Li, 2011;Jensen & Klastrup, 2008). For example, Edward and Wang (2015) have examined the impact of services on the foodstuffs brand equity in the brand preference, Sasmita and Mohd Suki (2015) have investigated the effect of young consumer's insight on the brand equity and White et al (2013) the effects of services on the brand equity in several retail channels. Therefore, the experimental evidences that support the direct relationship between the dimensions of the quality of services and brand equity need to further investigation.…”