The effect of perceived service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in e‐commerce settings

Purpose The paper aims to empirically investigate the relationship between perceived service quality, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in e‐commerce settings in two cultures – Malaysian and Qatari – at the level of construct dimensions. Design/methodology/approach A survey method approach was used in this study. To test the dimensionality of the perceived service quality, all 20 items were analyzed using oblique rotation and varimax rotation. The hypotheses were tested using the structural equations modeling and general linear model of univariate analysis of variance. Findings Perceived service quality was found to have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. In turn customer satisfaction was found to have a significant effect on trust. Both customer satisfaction and trust have significant effects on loyalty through word of mouth (WOM) while WOM is an antecedent of repeat visits or repurchase intentions. Interestingly, trust does not directly influence the latter. With the exception of the effect of satisfaction on trust, we found no significant difference between the effects of perceived service quality on satisfaction, satisfaction on loyalty, and trust on loyalty among the Qatari and Malaysian customers indicating that the relationships in the model did not hold across the two cultural groups because the respondents have similar cultural background. Research limitations/implications This study suffers from a limitation in that it uses a convenience sampling technique without a fully matched profile of the respondents. However, the satisfactory fit of the estimated model allows for the study to be a basis of a reliable comparison for future research. Practical implications In an e‐commerce setting companies can increase customer loyalty directly by improving the ease of use, the attractiveness, and the security of their website. Thus, marketers should tailor their marketing strategies to fit each marketing environment because overseas success of their business is very much a function of cultural adaptability. Originality/value The major contribution of this study is that it is the first attempt to investigate the impact of word of mouth on trust and intention.