The perception of e-servicescape and its influence on perceived e-shopping value and customer loyalty

The popularity of online shopping has grown in the recent years, enhancing the interest in identifying the factors that influence shoppers’ loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to investigate, through aesthetic appeal, layout and functionality, and financial security, the impact of customers’ perceptions of the e-servicescape in online shopping on perceived e-shopping value and customer loyalty defined as a two-component construct (attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty), following the sequence of the S–O–R framework.,Data were gathered using an Internet survey in which 221 active online shoppers participated who had at least one online purchase in the past six months. The research model was analysed using the partial least squares approach to analyse structural equations (SEM).,Based upon empirical evidence of a web-based survey of online shoppers, this study shows that consumers’ interpretation of e-servicescape exerts a positive influence over perceived e-shopping value and loyalty. Specifically, the study finds that layout and functionality and financial security, as the salient attributes of the e-servicescape dimension, set the point of perceived e-shopping value which affects attitudinal loyalty.,The authors expose several practical implications how marketing management could use the dimensions of e-servicescape perceived e-shopping value. Managers are advised to incorporate the dimensions of the e-servicescape to build perceived e-shopping value and loyalty. Online shops need to invest in particular in layout and functionality and financial security, dimensions that had a stronger effect on perceived e-shopping value in order to achieve costumers’ loyalty in a fashion product context.,The transition from physical service locations to virtual service processes has increased the research interest of e-servicescape. This study analyses it through its aesthetic appeal, layout and functionality, and financial security connecting them with the constructs of perceived e-shopping value and customer loyalty in the application for fashion products. This work emphasises the connection between servicescape attributes in creating perceived value which affects attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. In this way, the e-servicescape is seen as stimuli, the perceived e-shopping value represents the organism and the loyalty the response of the sequence of the S–O–R framework. This research provides insight into the new effects of each dimension of e-servicescape on perceived e-shopping value and the two dimensions of loyalty, thus improving the existing knowledge in the field of servicescape and online shopping customer behaviour.

[1]  Pranjal Gupta,et al.  Emotional expressions in online user reviews: How they influence consumers' product evaluations , 2012 .

[2]  Charlotta Åberg,et al.  Conveying conscientiousness: Exploring environmental images across servicescapes , 2014 .

[3]  Jian Mou,et al.  Effects of flow on young Chinese consumers’ purchase intention: a study of e-servicescape in hotel booking context , 2017, J. Inf. Technol. Tour..

[4]  Xuebing Dong,et al.  Effects of the characteristics of online multimedia synergy on consumers' message acceptance and message response , 2017, Online Inf. Rev..

[5]  R. B. Chase,et al.  Experience, Service Operations Strategy, and Services as Destinations: Foundations and Exploratory Investigation , 2008 .

[6]  S. Rogelberg,et al.  Introduction Understanding and Dealing With Organizational Survey Nonresponse , 2007 .

[7]  V. Mummalaneni,et al.  An empirical investigation of Web site characteristics, consumer emotional states and on-line shopping behaviors , 2005 .

[8]  M. Stone.  Cross‐Validatory Choice and Assessment of Statistical Predictions , 1976 .

[9]  Mary Anne Raymond,et al.  Designing the e-Servicescape: Implications for Online Retailers , 2009 .

[10]  Salvador del Barrio-García,et al.  Language as a cultural vessel in online servicescapes: Its impact on consumers' perceived risk, attitudes, and behavioural intentions , 2017 .

[11]  Adamantios Diamantopoulos,et al.  Incorporating Formative Measures into Covariance-Based Structural Equation Models , 2011, MIS Q..

[12]  Magnus Söderlund.  Measuring customer loyalty with multi‐item scales , 2006 .

[13]  David Godes,et al.  Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication , 2004 .

[14]  Wann-Yih Wu,et al.  How e-servicescapes affect customer online shopping intention: the moderating effects of gender and online purchasing experience , 2016, Information Systems and e-Business Management.

[15]  Marta Blázquez,et al.  Fashion Shopping in Multichannel Retail: The Role of Technology in Enhancing the Customer Experience , 2014, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[16]  Wee-Kheng Tan,et al.  Electronic-word-of-mouth performance in different psychological distances and familiarity , 2015, Online Inf. Rev..

[17]  E. Nilsson,et al.  All that is solid melts into air : the servicescape in digital service space , 2017 .

[18]  Dwayne D. Gremler,et al.  The Future of Frontline Research , 2016 .

[19]  G. Thevenot.  Blogging as a Social Media , 2007 .

[20]  J. Rossiter,et al.  Store atmosphere: an environmental psychology approach , 1982 .

[21]  Hsin Hsin Chang,et al.  The impact of online store environment cues on purchase intention: Trust and perceived risk as a mediator , 2008, Online Inf. Rev..

[22]  S. Geisser.  A predictive approach to the random effect model , 1974 .

[23]  Yeong Gug Kim,et al.  Application of the Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) Framework to Online Shopping Behavior , 2014 .

[24]  Cheryl Burke Jarvis,et al.  A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research , 2003 .

[25]  Sharron J. Lennon,et al.  Online visual merchandising (VMD) cues and consumer pleasure and arousal: Purchasing versus browsing situation , 2010 .

[26]  Panagiotis Kanellis,et al.  Trust and relationship building in electronic commerce , 2001, Internet Res..

[27]  E-Commerce in Europe: Parcel Delivery Prices in a Digital Single Market , 2016 .

[28]  V. Zeithaml.  Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality, and Value: A Means-End Model and Synthesis of Evidence: , 1988 .

[29]  Dong-Mo Koo,et al.  The interactional effects of atmospherics and perceptual curiosity on emotions and online shopping intention , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[30]  Pennie Frow,et al.  Relationship Value Management: Exploring the Integration of Employee, Customer and Shareholder Value and Enterprise Performance Models , 2001 .

[31]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research , 2014 .

[32]  Siegfried P. Gudergan,et al.  Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis in PLS Path Modeling , 2008 .

[33]  Michela Mari,et al.  Servicescape cues and customer behavior: a systematic literature review and research agenda , 2013 .

[34]  Yolanda Polo-Redondo,et al.  The influence of EWOM characteristics on online repurchase intention: Mediating roles of trust and perceived usefulness , 2016, Online Inf. Rev..

[35]  Jagdip Singh,et al.  Consumer Trust, Value, and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges , 2002 .

[36]  Chrysanthos Dellarocas,et al.  The Digitization of Word-of-Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[37]  Alan J. Dubinsky,et al.  A conceptual model of perceived customer value in e-commerce: A preliminary investigation , 2003 .

[38]  M. Sarstedt,et al.  A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling , 2015 .

[39]  Panagiotis Kanellis,et al.  Trust Formation And Relationship Building In Electronic Servicescapes , 2002, ECIS.

[40]  Hsiao-Han Chen,et al.  Relationship between e-servicescape and purchase intention among heavy and light internet users , 2018, Internet Res..

[41]  Jamie Carlson,et al.  Assessing customers' perceived value of the online channel of multichannel retailers: A two country examination , 2015 .

[42]  Blanca Hernández,et al.  Age, gender and income: do they really moderate online shopping behaviour? , 2011 .

[43]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[44]  David M. Szymanski,et al.  E-satisfaction: an initial examination , 2000 .

[45]  B. Kahn,et al.  Cross-category effects of induced arousal and pleasure on the Internet shopping experience , 2002 .

[46]  P. Bentler,et al.  Fit indices in covariance structure modeling : Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification , 1998 .

[47]  R. E. Milliman,et al.  Atmospheric Effects on Shopping Behavior: A Review of the Experimental Evidence , 2000 .

[48]  L. Harris,et al.  Servicescape and loyalty intentions: an empirical investigation , 2008 .

[49]  Carolyn A. Massiah,et al.  An expanded servicescape perspective , 2011 .

[50]  Stephen K. Koernig.  E‐scapes: The electronic physical environment and service tangibility , 2003 .

[51]  Rolph E. Anderson,et al.  Customer loyalty in e-commerce: an exploration of its antecedents and consequences , 2002 .

[52]  Kristina Heinonen,et al.  Temporal and spatial e‐service value , 2006 .

[53]  K. Bollen,et al.  A tetrad test for causal indicators. , 2000, Psychological methods.

[54]  Endo Wijaya Kartika,et al.  The descriptive analysis of aesthetic appeal, layout and functionality, and financial security: case study for the Indonesia e-commerce , 2016 .

[55]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Service quality delivery through web sites: A critical review of extant knowledge , 2002, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

[56]  A. Broderick,et al.  Conceptualising consumer behaviour in online shopping environments , 2007 .

[57]  W. Reinartz,et al.  An Empirical Comparison of the Efficacy of Covariance-Based and Variance-Based SEM , 2009 .

[58]  Alice M. Tybout,et al.  A vision of theory, research, and the future of business schools , 1999 .

[59]  Elin Nilsson,et al.  Reexamining the place of servicescape in marketing: a service-dominant logic perspective , 2014 .

[60]  Ricardo Colomo Palacios,et al.  The effect of information overload and disorganisation on intention to purchase online: The role of perceived risk and internet experience , 2014, Online Inf. Rev..

[61]  Ying-Hueih Chen,et al.  Website attributes that increase consumer purchase intention: A conjoint analysis , 2010 .

[62]  D. Petzer,et al.  Online servicescape dimensions as predictors of website trust in the South African domestic airline industry , 2019, Southern African Business Review.

[63]  Anat Rafaeli,et al.  Aesthetics and Professionalism of Virtual Servicescapes , 2006 .

[64]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees: , 1992 .

[65]  D. Bowman,et al.  Managing Customer-Initiated Contacts with Manufacturers: The Impact on Share of Category Requirements and Word-of-Mouth Behavior , 2001 .

[66]  Jiyun Kang,et al.  Motivational Antecedents of Social Shopping for Fashion and its Contribution to Shopping Satisfaction , 2011 .

[67]  L. Harris,et al.  Online servicescapes, trust, and purchase intentions , 2010 .

[68]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  Goodness-of-fit indices for partial least squares path modeling , 2013, Comput. Stat..

[69]  Barry J. Babin,et al.  Perceived appropriateness and its effect on quality, affect and behavior , 2004 .

[70]  Chia-Chi Sun,et al.  Factors influencing satisfaction and loyalty in online shopping: an integrated model , 2009, Online Inf. Rev..

[71]  Young Ha,et al.  Role of web site design quality in satisfaction and word of mouth generation , 2012 .

[72]  Yuan Gao,et al.  Web Systems Design and Online Consumer Behavior , 2005 .

[73]  Po-yuan Chen,et al.  Perceived value, transaction cost, and repurchase-intention in online shopping: A relational exchange perspective , 2014 .

[74]  Lynn Dailey.  Navigational web atmospherics Explaining the influence of restrictive navigation cues , 2004 .

[75]  Andrew M. Hardin,et al.  The Impact of Virtual Worlds on Word-of-Mouth: Improving Social Networking and Servicescape in the Hospitality Industry , 2010 .

[76]  H. Winklhofer,et al.  Index Construction with Formative Indicators: An Alternative to Scale Development , 2001 .

[77]  Lenita M. Davis,et al.  Empirical testing of a model of online store atmospherics and shopper responses , 2003 .

[78]  Abhilash Ponnam,et al.  Investigating the Process Through which E-Servicescape Creates E-Loyalty in Travel and Tourism Websites , 2017 .

[79]  Iris Vilnai-Yavetz,et al.  Images in Academic Web Pages as Marketing Tools: Meeting the Challenge of Service Intangibility , 2009 .

[80]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. , 1977 .

[81]  Russell S. Winer,et al.  Experimentation in the 21st century: The importance of external validity , 1999 .

[82]  Zhilin Yang,et al.  Customer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty: The role of switching costs , 2004 .

[83]  P. Ballantine.  Effects of interactivity and product information on consumer satisfaction in an online retail setting , 2005 .

[84]  M. Minor,et al.  Web aesthetics effects on perceived online service quality and satisfaction in an e-tail environment: The moderating role of purchase task , 2010 .

[85]  Sharron J. Lennon,et al.  Online visual merchandising (VMD) of apparel web sites , 2007 .

[86]  F. Wynstra,et al.  Value in business markets : what do we know? where are we going? , 2005 .

[87]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[88]  Fatema Kawaf,et al.  Online shopping environments in fashion shopping: an S-O-R based review , 2012 .

[89]  Siong Choy Chong,et al.  An explorative study of shopper-based salient e-servicescape attributes: A Means-End Chain approach , 2014, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[90]  Hsin Hsin Chang,et al.  The Moderating Effect of Customer Perceived Value on Online Shopping Behaviour , 2011, Online Inf. Rev..

[91]  Michael K. Brady,et al.  Investigating the role of the physical environment in hedonic service consumption: an exploratory study of sporting events , 2002 .

[92]  Russell Williams,et al.  From servicescape to “cyberscape” , 2004 .