Reputable Internet Retailers’ Service Quality and Social Media Use

Abstract

Due to the low entry barrier, Internet retailers face intense competition in both online and offline operations. Previous literature suggests that reputation acts as a key deciding factor against the competition since customers trust reputable retailers more than others. In the conventional framework, service quality has a critical role in reputation creation as customer perception of a retailer’s high service quality leads to an increase in their perceived reputation of the retailer. In contrast with the conventional framework, this study poses a deductive stance and examines if reputable retailers indeed offer high service quality to their customers. Investigation of more than 600 retailers’ service quality in this study shows some unmatched linkage between service quality and reputation. The findings tell us that the conventional framework does not work when the connection between service quality and reputation is examined beyond customer perception. This study also suggests an alternative source of reputation to service quality, which is social media marketing.