E-customer loyalty in gamified trusted store platforms: a case study analysis in Iran

Abstract

Customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty are the three most fundamental elements of e-marketing. Previous researchers have noted that satisfaction is a key factor in commanding loyalty. However, the relationship between satisfaction, trust, and loyalty is strongly dependent on the type of platform provided by digital stores. On the other hand, gamification in E-businesses has grown rapidly in recent years. In this context, it is necessary to explore the effects of gamification on e-customer satisfaction and loyalty. In this paper, it is argued that customer satisfaction alone cannot inspire loyalty. Simply speaking, customers’ satisfaction with gamified services can lead to developing trust and, in turn, loyalty. This research also presents a thorough review of the effect of store-related motivational factors, such as gamification, on trust. These factors include moderator and mediator variables. The hypotheses of this study are considered in the context of one of the largest online retail stores in Iran which enjoys a large market share in the Middle East. To this end, Lawshe content validity ratio is utilized and expert opinions are applied to the proposed model. Evaluation results, obtained through the smartPLS, established the robustness of our modeling in terms of reliability analysis, significance level analysis, discriminant validity analysis, coefficient of determination, model fitting, and cross-validation.