Understanding the role of webcare in the online buying service recovery context

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and reputation are crucial in the online buying marketplace, because negative WOM can easily spread very quickly. Businesses are investing a lot in consolidating customer relationships in order to improve their services and eliminate negative eWOM. So far, many studies have been carried out on the issue of eWOM, with some scholars proposing the concept of Webcare to analyze how businesses operate and conduct eWOM. In fact, it is hard to provide service recovery for many online companies, because service failure cannot be made up immediately and efficiently. And there are few studies do empirically address the issue of Webcare in the online buying context. In this vein, following “A post-acceptance of IS continuance model” originated from Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT), this present study proposed a research model of “A post-acceptance of service recovery continuance model” in the research context of service recovery. The findings showed that “Post-acceptance of IS continuance model” can be applied into the context of service recovery with a highly explanatory power. The study confirmed the antecedent role of Webcare in the “Post-acceptance of service recovery continuance (repurchase) model”, and found that the Webcare should be employed in all of the online buying process as the trigger of service recovery sequence to satisfied consumers, instead of post remedy after the service failure.