EFFECT OF E-SERVICE QUALITY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AMONG ONLINE SHOPPERS IN ABIA STATE

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the factors that influence the e-service quality through online shopping. E-service quality is the difference between customers’ expectations for service performance priorities the service encounters and their expectations about service performance prior to the service offering. Due to the recent growth in e-service quality in the field of e-commerce, the importance of monitoring and measuring e-service quality has provided value to the virtual world. Perceived risk has been studied in marketing for over 40 years and appears to be an appropriate construct to understand consumer adoption of e-commerce payment systems. The internet’s impact upon the Malaysian market is significant and this has made it convenient for consumers to purchase products/services from the reader and to go through the product information over the internet. The findings indicate the analysis of e-service quality through online shopping.       

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page                                                                                                           i

Declaration                                                                                                         ii

Certification                                                                                                       iii

Dedication                                                                                                          iv

Acknowledgement                                                                                             v

Table of Contents                                                                                               vi

List of Tables                                                                                                     viii

Abstract                                                                                                              x

CHAPTER ONE

1.1     INTRODUCTION                                                                                 1

1.2     Statement of the Problem                                                                         2

1.3     Objective of the Study                                                                             3

1.4     Research Questions                                                                                  3

1.5     Research Hypothesis                                                                                4

1.6     Significance of the Study                                                                         5

1.7     Scope of the Study                                                                                   5

1.8     Organization of the Study                                                                        5

1.9     Operational Measure of Variables                                                           5

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

2.1     Service Quality                                                                                        5

2.2     E-Service Quality                                                                                     8

2.3     Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality                                             10

2.4     Theoretical Framework                                                                            11

2.5     Empirical Review                                                                                    12

2.6     Theoretical Review                                                                                  15

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1     Research Design                                                                                      19

3.2     Area of Study                                                                                           19

3.3     Design and Administration of the Questionnaire                                    19

3.4     Sampling Techniques                                                                               19

3.5     Research Population/Determination of Sample Size                                19

3.6     Selection of Data/Collection of Data                                                       20

3.7     Validity and Reliability                                                                            21

3.8     Data Analysis                                                                                           21

3.9     Operational Measures of Variables                                                         21

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS                                                                                                        

4.1     Presentation of Data

4.2     Summary Statistics                                                                                  26

4.3     Model Estimation                                                                                    26

4.4     Test of Hypotheses                                                                                  28

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1     Summary of Findings                                                                              30

5.2     Conclusion                                                                                               31

5.3     Recommendations                                                                                    32

          References                                                                                                33

Appendix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1:    Dimensions of Service Quality (SERVQUAL Scale)           7

Table 2.2:    E-Service Scales                                                                            8

Table 4.2:    Descriptive Statistics                                                                     26

Table 4.3:    Coefficients^a                                                                                  27

CHAPTER ONE

1.1     INTRODUCTION

The development of information and communication technology, internet and worldwide (www) has become an important tool in business environment which has a major impact in business world (Nazli, 2015).

Web-based service has recorded an explosive growth in the electronic commerce in the past several years. (Ahmed, 2011). Businesses are gaining competitive advantages by using e-commerce to interact with customer on regular bases. E-service quality is the overall customer assessment and judgment of e-service delivery in the virtual market place as it offers a lot of benefits to the customers such as enhanced control, ease use and reduced transaction charges (Scullin & Nicholas, 2001, Yang & Fang, 2004) cited in Ahmed, 2011).

Organization use online service as an assurance to their customer that they maintain a competitive quality of service in future in efforts to avoid losing their customers (Rod et al., 2009). Providing a good service quality is one of the major issues especially in organization engaging in online business, where a satisfied customer is willing to repeat again.

As noted by Ahmed, Mahmoud and Hani (2014) companies with good service quality will lead to higher customers’ satisfaction and customer loyalty, resulting in repeat purchases and profitability.

For an organization to gain competitive advantage it must use technology to gather information on market demand and exchange if between organizations for the purpose of enhancing the service quality (Seth & Deshmukh et al., 2005). Electronic service has strategic importance in businesses striving to address customer satisfaction in the electronic market place. As cited by Parasuraman & Zinkhan (2002) in Asadpoor & Aboifazi (2017) opined that electronic service contribute two key advantages; information efficiency and transaction efficiency. The use of information technology has not only transformed the nature of service provided by organization (online retailer) but has changed the process of providing services (Paluch & Blut, 2013).

According to Lee, Petrick, Crumptun (2007) marketing has adopted electronic business in order to provide superior service that satisfies customers, creates customer value and ultimately develop loyalty. Electronic service quality facilitate, effective and efficient shopping, purchasing and delivery. A lot of researches have been conducted in the area of e-service quality delivery in order to create customer satisfaction among customers of online retailer (Bekhet & Al-Alak, 2011). Much of the studies in e-service quality take a communication of traditional service quality dimensions and web interface quality dimension as the starting points. Therefore, these research aim at to access the effect of e-service quality on customer satisfaction of online shopping in Abia State.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

In today’s challenging business environment, the evaluation of customer satisfaction on service quality is the primary goal of service firms that would like to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. In today’s challenging business environment, the evaluation of customer satisfaction on service quality is the primary group of service firms that would like to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Researchers have identified several dimensions of e-service quality, but the consistency in the proposed dimension is lacking. Most of the e-service quality dimensions studied is limited to financial institutions and hospitality industries.

For companies to deliver superior service quality online, it is necessary to understand customer’s perceptions about service quality and how to evaluate it Zeithaml (2002). Again, it seems that the e-service quality strategies used by the online retailers or firms are similar to those of traditional service quality rather than research based thought programmes, hence inability of the online retailer to state the best e-service quality dimensions that are perceived by customers as superior service quality online in the online market.

Based on the empirical studies, no study has tried to analyzed the effect of e-service quality and customers satisfaction and advise the firm in the best one to be amended or discarded. This gap is the thrust of this study.

1.3     Objective of the Study

The main objective of the study is to evaluate the effect of e-service quality on customer satisfaction among online shoppers in Abia State. The specific objectives are:

i.        to determine the dimensions of online service quality available to online shoppers in Umuahia

ii.       to determine the effect of website design on customer satisfaction

iii.      to determine the effect of reliability on customer satisfaction

iv.      to determine the effect of responsiveness on customer satisfaction

v.       to determine the effect of trust on customers satisfaction

vi.      to determine the effect and personalization on customer satisfaction.

1.4     Research Questions

The study will answers the following research questions.

i.        What are the dimensions of online service quality available to online shoppers in Umuahia?

ii.       To what extent does website design effect customer satisfaction?

iii.      To what extent does reliability effect customer satisfaction?

iv.      To what extent does responsiveness effect customer satisfaction?

v.       To what extent does trust effect customer satisfaction?

vi.      To what extent does personalization effect customer satisfaction?

1.5     Research Hypothesis

The following hypotheses are stated in null form.

Ho₁:   There is no significant relationship between website designs on customer satisfaction.

Ho₂:   There is no significant relationship between reliability on customer satisfaction.

Ho₃:   There is no significant relationship between responsiveness on customer satisfaction.

Ho₄:   There is no significant relationship between trusts on customer satisfaction.

Ho₅:   There is no significant relationship between personalizations on customer satisfaction.

1.6     Significance of the Study

The study when completed will be useful to the following groups;

The Academic Community: The study will add to existing literature on the research topic.               

The Online Shopper: The study will also identify the various strategies (e-service dimension) that strongly influence customers’ satisfaction. 

1.7     Scope of the Study

The research is domiciled in e-marketing and consumer behaviour. The geographical scope is those that patronize online firms in Umuahia, Abia State.

Coverage scope covers online shoppers.

1.8     Organization of the Study

The work is organized in five chapters. The first chapter centres on the introduction of the research project, while the second chapter reviews the various literatures on service dimensions and customer satisfaction. The third chapter discusses the research methodologies that are used in this project. The fourth chapter deals with analysis of the data and presentation of findings. The final chapter deals with recommendations and conclusion of the research project.

1.9     Operational Measure of Variables

E-service quality is defined broadly to encompass all phases of a customer’s interactions with a website.

Customer satisfaction: A collective outcome of perceptions; evaluation and psychological reactions to the consumption experience with a product/service.

Online shoppers: Customers that buy a product online.  

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