Role of Online Retailers’ Post-sale Services in Building Relationships and Developing Repurchases: A Comparison-Based Analysis Among Male and Female Customers

Frontiers in Psychology

Aqsa Manzoor¹  Abid Hussain Nadeem²  Roger C. Shouse³  Min Wu³  Muhammad Kashif Javed³  Talat Qadeer³ 

[1] Department of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy;Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan;Sichuan University, Chengdu, China;

关键词: product return;    product exchange;    product maintenance;    customer satisfaction;    trust;    repurchase intention;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.594132

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Customers are skeptical about shopping online because e-commerce environments are typically considered impersonal. To assure product quality and to enhance customer proclivity in such environments, post-sale services (i.e., product returns, exchange, and maintenance) may be considered to alleviate customers’ skepticism. Therefore, this study’s objective is to investigate the role of an online retailer’s post-sale services (i.e., product return, exchange, and maintenance) on customers’ attitudinal (building relationships) and behavioral aspects (developing customers’ repurchase intentions). Structural equation modeling is applied to data collected through an online survey answered by 409 online customers of jd.com (after missing data were removed). Research findings show that product return, exchange, and maintenance services are strongly predictive of online customer satisfaction, and satisfaction significantly impacts customer trust. Both customer satisfaction and trust, as indicators of relationship quality, further mediate the links between product return, exchange, and maintenance services and online customer repurchase intention. In addition, differences between male and female customers were found in various aspects of online retailers’ product return, exchange, and maintenance services. This is the first empirical study that not only examines the influence of all three dimensions of online retailers’ post-sale services on customers’ online shopping perceptions and decisions, but also considers differences between male and female customers. Finally, this research provides theoretical and managerial implications based on conceptual and empirical evidence.

【 授权许可】

CC BY