The impact of electronic service quality's dimensions on customer satisfaction and buying impulse

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for measuring the effects of electronic service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction and buying impulse. The functional nature of customer buying impulsivity is introduced as a moderator. This variable measures both the general tendency of customers either to trust or not to trust buying impulses and their level of satisfaction from impulsive purchases. The research utilised an online questionnaire administered to 4,109 clients of a leading French e-commerce Website specialising in electronic and cultural goods. The results highlight the principal dimensions of Website quality and their direct influence on customer satisfaction and impulse buying. In addition to this direct effect, the impact of Website quality dimensions on impulse buying is also mediated by customer satisfaction. Functional buying impulsivity moderates the influence of Website quality dimensions on satisfaction and on buying impulses as well as the influence of satisfaction on buying impulses. As a conclusion, limits and research avenues are examined and discussed.

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

[2]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  Representing and testing organizational theories: A holistic construal. , 1982 .

[3]  Dennis W. Rook The Buying Impulse , 1987 .

[4]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. , 1988 .

[5]  S. Dickman,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Functional and Dysfunctional Impulsivity: Personality and Cognitive Correlates , 1990 .

[6]  William B. Locander,et al.  The Lived Meaning of Free Choice: An Existential-Phenomenological Description of Everyday Consumer Experiences of Contemporary Married Women , 1990 .

[7]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  On the use of structural equation models in experimental designs: Two extensions , 1991 .

[8]  Jonathan Steuer,et al.  Defining virtual reality: dimensions determining telepresence , 1992 .

[9]  A. Isen,et al.  Positive affect and decision making. , 1993 .

[10]  Francis Piron A Comparison of Emotional Reactions Experienced By Planned, Unplanned and Impulse Purchasers , 1993 .

[11]  J. Forgas Mood and judgment: the affect infusion model (AIM). , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[12]  R. Oliver Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective On The Consumer , 1996 .

[13]  James E. Burroughs Product Symbolism, Self Meaning, and Holistic Matching: the Role of Information Processing in Impulsive Buying , 1996 .

[14]  G. Loewenstein Out of control: Visceral influences on behavior , 1996 .

[15]  F. Hesse,et al.  Store atmosphere, mood and purchasing behavior , 1997 .

[16]  John Eighmey Profiling user responses to commercial web sites , 1997 .

[17]  Jane Z. Sojka,et al.  Thinking And/Or Feeling: an Examination of Interaction Between Processing Styles , 1997 .

[18]  Michael A. Jones,et al.  Development and Validation of the Impulse Buying Tendency Scale , 1998, Psychological reports.

[19]  Naveen Donthu,et al.  The Internet Shopper , 1999 .

[20]  Gerald L. Lohse,et al.  Internet retail store design: How the user interface influences traffic and sales , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[21]  R. Bharat Rao,et al.  Browsers or Buyers in Cyberspace? An Investigation of Factors Influencing Electronic Exchange , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[22]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[23]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity , 1999 .

[24]  R. Baumeister,et al.  Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: does self-control resemble a muscle? , 2000, Psychological bulletin.

[25]  A. Hausman,et al.  A multi‐method investigation of consumer motivations in impulse buying behavior , 2000 .

[26]  Ronald J. Faber,et al.  Impulse Buying: Its Relation to Personality Traits and Cues , 2000 .

[27]  U. Dholakia Temptation and resistance: An integrated model of consumption impulse formation and enactment , 2000 .

[28]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  The impact of technology on the quality-value-loyalty chain: A research agenda , 2000 .

[29]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Technology infusion in service encounters , 2000 .

[30]  M. Gilly,et al.  Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun , 2001 .

[31]  M. Giraud Les acheteurs impulsifs : proposition d’une typologie , 2001, Décisions Marketing.

[32]  Joel B. Cohen,et al.  Affect Monitoring and the Primacy of Feelings in Judgment , 2001 .

[33]  R. Giner-Sorolla,et al.  Guilty pleasures and grim necessities: affective attitudes in dilemmas of self-control. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[34]  Seounmi Youn,et al.  The Dimensional Structure of Consumer Buying Impulsivity: Measurement and Validation , 2002 .

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

[36]  Richard T. Vidgen,et al.  An Integrative Approach to the Assessment of E-Commerce Quality , 2002, J. Electron. Commer. Res..

[37]  Bricks A Clicks A the Buying Impulse: an Investigation of Consumer Impulse Buying Behavior in an Online and a traditional Retail Environment , 2003 .

[38]  M. Gilly,et al.  eTailQ: dimensionalizing, measuring and predicting etail quality , 2003 .

[39]  Debra A. Laverie,et al.  Exploring Impulse Purchasing on the Internet , 2004 .

[40]  D. Wittink,et al.  Customer satisfaction and retail sales performance: an empirical investigation , 2004 .

[41]  V. Zeithaml,et al.  E-S-QUAL A Multiple-Item Scale for Assessing Electronic Service Quality , 2004 .

[42]  Anne-Cécile Jeandrain,et al.  How to generate affective reactions through social and spatial immersion on a merchant website , 2005 .

[43]  Michael A. Jones,et al.  The role of retailer interest on shopping behavior , 2006 .

[44]  Grégory Bressolles,et al.  La qualité de service électronique: NetQu@l Proposition d'une échelle de mesure appliquée aux sites marchands et effets modérateurs , 2006 .