Multicriteria Evaluation of the Emotional Intelligence of Small Retail E-Commerce Network Firms

Abstract

The electronic commerce (e-commerce) market is experiencing explosive growth. Millions of retail network firms compete in the virtual e-commerce market. A key aspect of online trading is emotional intelligence: these retail firms adopt emotional tactics to attract and retain customers. This article evaluates the emotional intelligence of small retail e-commerce network firms. By analyzing the emotional information transmitting process, we propose a framework to measure virtual emotional intelligence abilities in e-commerce. Based on that framework, we adopt the ELECTRE III multicriteria evaluation method to evaluate the emotional intelligence of some small retail network firms on the TAOBAO e-commerce website. The results show that a correlation exists between emotional intelligence and sales in a network environment. Thus, improving virtual emotional intelligence abilities is important for retail network firms to increase customers’ satisfaction, gain competitive advantage, and promote their sales in the current information society.