A Mediated Moderation Model of Perceived E-commerce Platform Quality: An Abstract

Abstract

Conceptualizing e-service quality and understanding its performance implications in the context of e-commerce platforms as intermediaries have become an important research topic given the fast development of internet marketing and various business models of e-commerce. Yet little research exists about the service quality of e-commerce platforms as intermediaries despite the growth and popularity of third-party websites as the transaction medium (Liu et al., 2010). This study tries to fill the research gaps by examining both the role of sellers and the e-storefront’s functionality, and consumers’ subjective feel of the shopping experience reflected by their felt shopping confidence, perceived shopping values, and their general level of satisfaction. We argue that a comprehensive model of e-service quality should consider both technological attributes and human elements attributes, and that electronic service quality should broadly encompass all phases of customer interaction with a website. We drew upon the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989) to develop our propositions regarding the moderating effect of customers’ perceived control and the mediating role of perceived shopping values. Hypothesis 1: E-storefront’s functionality is positively related to customer satisfaction. The relationship is moderated by customers’ perceived control, such that the relationship is stronger for customers with a low level of perceived control than for customers with a high level of perceived control. Hypothesis 2: Ratio of hedonic to utilitarian value mediates the moderating effect of customers’ perceived control on the relationship of e-storefront’s functionality with customer satisfaction. Data was gathered by means of an online survey administration tool ( www.qualtrics.com ). Both hypotheses were supported. This study contributes to the marketing literature by examining the factors of both technological and human attributes affecting the e-service quality in the context of third-party e-commerce. The results shed light on the nature of beyond the technological antecedents of quality, the quality dimensions should consider the role of online shoppers’ feelings and perceptions in forming their overall e-commerce experiences and the factors that make using third-party websites a compelling experience. This study highlights the importance of including important mediator and moderator in examining the proposed relationships between e-commerce quality and customer satisfaction and offers suggestions for future research.