Service innovation, experiential relationship quality and shopping outcomes in a smart unmanned store

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to examine the relationships among the dimensions of service innovation (product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation and organizational innovation), the dimensions of experiential relationship quality (experiential value, experiential satisfaction, experiential trust and experiential commitment) and the dimensions of shopping outcomes ((positive word-of-mouth (WOM) and patronage intentions)). Data were obtained from 485 respondents at one smart unmanned store in Wuhan of China, and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings show that product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, organizational innovation and experiential value have a direct positive influence on experiential satisfaction. Also, experiential value, experiential satisfaction and experiential trust have a direct positive influence on experiential commitment, which in turn lead to positive WOM, while experiential trust has a positive influence on patronage intentions. This study concludes with key implications arising from the analyses and further research opportunities.