The Role of Channel Integration in Customers' Perceptions Transfer from Offline Channel to Online Channel Service Quality
Abstract
The advancement of internet technology revolutionized the online shopping environment and offered more options to customers in their purchase process, providing them with better products and services and providing opportunities for business firms to open an additional channel to grow. Based on previous inconsistent results regarding the construct of the different channels, the current study proposes Channel Integration as a moderator. Some authors also attribute these insignificant results to a lack of channel integration. While the number of channels increases, the issue of synergies and coordination among channels also increases. The current study investigates the connection between offline service quality and Online Service Quality (ONSQ). Additionally, the moderation of channel integration between offline service quality and ONSQ justifies inconsistent results in multichannel literature. Data was collected from 358 customers of various online fashion industry firms in Pakistan. The study results indicate the significant association between offline service quality and ONSQ. The construct of channel integration moderates the relationship between offline service quality and ONSQ. Hence, the higher the perceived integration between the multiple channels of the firm, the better is the transfer of customer perceptions from one channel to another. Therefore, multichannel firms should acknowledge the role of channel integration in shaping behavioral intentions in multiple channel interaction. Several other variables can be tested to check their moderating effect on customer's perception transfer.
References
Aguilar-Escobar, V. G., Garrido-Vega, P., & Godino-Gallego, N. (2013). Improving the supply chain in a hospital through leanmanagement. Journal of Healthcare Quality, 28(6), 337-344. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cali.2013.05.003
Ahmad, A., & Khan, M. N. (2017). Developing a website service quality scale: A confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Internet Commerce, 16(1), 104-126. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15332861.2017.1283927
Ahmad, A., Rahman, O., & Khan, M. N. (2016). Consumer's perception of website service quality: An empirical study. Journal of Internet Commerce, 15(2), 125-141. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15332861.2016.1144442
Al-Hawari, M., & Ward, T. (2006). The effect of automated service quality on Australian banks' financial performance and the mediating role of customer satisfaction. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 24(2), 127-147. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500610653991
Ali, M., & Raza, S. A. (2017). Service quality perception and customer satisfaction in Islamic banks of Pakistan: The modified SERVQUAL model. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 28(5-6), 559-577. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2015.1100517
Anderson, B. S., Eshima, Y., & Hornsby, J. S. (2019). Strategic entrepreneurial behaviors: Construct and scale development. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 13(2), 199-220. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1306
Ardiansah, M., Chariri, A., Rahardja, S., & Udin, U. (2020). The effect of electronic payments security on e-commerce consumer perception: An extended model of technology acceptance. Management Science Letters, 10(7), 1473-1480. doi:https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2019.12.020
Avery, J., Steenburgh, T. J., Deighton, J., & Caravella, M. (2012). Adding bricks to clicks: Predicting the patterns of cross-channel elasticities over time. Journal of Marketing, 76(3), 96-111. doi:https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.09.0081
Ayodeji, O. G., & Kumar, V. (2019). Social media analytics: A tool for the success of online retail industry. International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, 10(1), 79-95. doi:https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSOI.2019.100630
Babulal, G. M., Vivoda, J., Harmon, A., Carr, D. B., Roe, C. M., & Zikmund-Fisher, B. (2019). Older adults’ expectations about mortality, driving life and years left without driving. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 62(8), 912-929. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2019.1663460
Bashir, R., Mehboob, I., & Bhatti, W. K. (2015). Effects of online shopping trends on consumer-buying behaviour: An empirical study of Pakistan. Journal of Management and Research, 2(2), 1-24. doi:https://doi.org/10.29145/jmr/22/0202001
Beckers, J., Cá rdenas, I., & Verhetsel, A. (2018). Identifying the geography of online shopping adoption in Belgium. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 45, 33-41. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.08.006
Beritelli, P., & Schegg, R. (2016). Maximizing online bookings through a multi-channel-strategy: Effects of interdependencies and networks. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(1), 68-89. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-07-2014-0326
Borsboom, D., van der Maas, H. L., Dalege, J., Kievit, R. A., & Haig, B. D. (2021). Theory construction methodology: A practical framework for building theories in psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(4), 756-766. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620969647
Carlson, J., Rahman, M., Voola, R., & De Vries, N. (2018). Customer engagement behaviours in social media: Capturing innovation opportunities. Journal of Services Marketing, 32(1), 83-94. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-02-2017-0059
Changchit, C., Cutshall, R., Lonkani, R., Pholwan, K., & Pongwiritthon, R. (2019). Determinants of online shopping influencing Thai consumer’s buying choices. Journal of Internet Commerce, 18(1), 1-23. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15332861.2018.1496391
Cui, J.-R., Zhou, J.-Y., Xu, Z., Zhang, Z.-W., & Li, Q. (2018). Review of active power measuring methods for vehicle-to-grid (v2g). In 2018 Chinese Automation Congress (CAC), Xi'an, China (p. 1448-1453).
Dennis, C.-L., Falah-Hassani, K., & Shiri, R. (2017). Prevalence of antenatal and postnatal anxiety: Systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 210(5), 315-323. doi:https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.116.187179
Fadhel, I. E. I., Idrus, S. Z. B. S., Abdullah, M. S. Y., Ibrahim, A. A. E. A., Omar, M., & Khred, A. (2020). A new perspective of web-based systems quality engineering measure by using software engineering theory (ISO 25010): An initial study. In The 2nd Joint International Conference on Emerging Computing Technology and Sports (JICETS), Bandung, Indonesia. doi:https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1529/2/022004
Famiyeh, S., Asante-Darko, D., & Kwarteng, A. (2018). Service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty in the banking sector: The moderating role of organizational culture. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 35(8), 1546-1567. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-01-2017-0008
Frasquet, M., Descals, A. M., & Ruiz-Molina, M. E. (2017). Understanding loyalty in multichannel retailing: The role of brand trust and brand attachment. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 45(6), 608-625. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-07-2016-0118
Frasquet, M., & Miquel, M.-J. (2017). Do channel integration efforts pay-off in terms of online and offline customer loyalty? International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 45(7/8), 859-873. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-10-2016-0175
Giao, H. N. K. (2020). Customer satisfaction at tiki. vn e-commerce platform. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and Business, 7(4), 173-183. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.041
Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2-24. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203
Hamari, J., Hanner, N., & Koivisto, J. (2017). Service quality explains why people use freemium services but not if they go premium: An empirical study in free-to-play games. International Journal of Information Management, 37(1), 1449-1459. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.09.004
Herhausen, D., Kleinlercher, K., Verhoef, P. C., Emrich, O., & Rudolph, T. (2019). Loyalty formation for different customer journey segments. Journal of Retailing, 95(3), 9-29. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2019.05.001
Hult, G. T. M., Sharma, P. N., Morgeson III, F. V., & Zhang, Y. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction: Do they differ across online and offline purchases? Journal of Retailing, 95(1), 10-23. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2018.10.003
Hussain, R., Al Nasser, A., & Hussain, Y. K. (2015). Service quality and customer satisfaction of a UAE-based airline: An empirical investigation. Journal of Air Transport Management, 42, 167-175. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2014.10.001
Iqbal, M. K., Raza, A., Ahmed, F., Faraz, N. A., & Bhutta, U. S. (2021). Research on influencing mechanism of big five personality traits on customers online purchase intention: A mediating role of trust. International Journal of Electronic Business, 16(1), 52-76. doi:https://doi.org/10.1504/IJEB.2021.112765
Joewono, T. B., Rizki, M., Belgiawan, P. F., & Irawan, M. Z. (2020). Why do shoppers keep making online shopping trips? learning from evidence in Bandung, Indonesia. Asian Transport Studies, 6, 1-9. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eastsj.2020.100016
Jun, M., & Palacios, S. (2016). Examining the key dimensions of mobile banking service quality: An exploratory study. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 34(3), 307-326. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBM-01-2015-0015
Ke, X., & Wagner, C. (2020). Global pandemic compels sport to move to esports: Understanding from brand extension perspective (just accepted). Managing Sport and Leisure. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23750472.2020.1792801
Kim, H., Lee, D., & Ryu, M. H. (2018). An optimal strategic business model for small businesses using online platforms. Sustainability, 10(3), 1-11. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030579
Kollmann, T., Kuckertz, A., & Kayser, I. (2012). Cannibalization or synergy? Consumers' channel selection in online-offline multichannel systems. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(2), 186-194. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2011.11.008
Ladhari, R. (2009). A review of twenty years of SERVQUAL research. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 1(2), 172-198. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/17566690910971445
Lee, T. S., Ariff, M. S. M., Zakuan, N., Sulaiman, Z., & Saman, M. Z. M. (2016). Online sellers’ website quality influencing online buyers’ purchase intention. In 4th International Conference on Manufacturing, Optimization, Industrial and Material Engineering (MOIME 2016), Bali, Indonesia.
Li, L., Tang, H., & Hu, Y. (2018). The effect of thickness on the mechanics of nanobeams. International Journal of Engineering Science, 123, 81-91. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijengsci.2017.11.021
Lopes, E. L., de Lamô nica Freire, O. B., & Lopes, E. H. (2019). Competing scales for measuring perceived quality in the electronic retail industry: A comparison between ES-Qual and E-TailQ. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 34, 1-11. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2019.100824
Montaguti, E., Neslin, S. A., & Valentini, S. (2016). Can marketing campaigns induce multichannel buying and more profitablem customers? A field experiment. Marketing Science, 35(2), 201-217. doi:https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2015.0923
Neslin, S. A., Grewal, D., Leghorn, R., Shankar, V., Teerling, M. L., Thomas, J. S., & Verhoef, P. C. (2006). Challenges and opportunities in multichannel customer management. Journal of Service Research, 9(2), 95-112. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670506293559
Nguyen, D. T. N., Lee, O. K., Hadiyati, S., Affifah, A. N., Kim, M. S., & Lee, E. Y. (2019). Metabolic engineering of the type i methanotroph Methylomonas sp. DH-1 for production of succinate from methane. Metabolic Engineering, 54, 170-179. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2019.03.013
Njeru, L. M., Cheruiyot, T. K., & Maru, L. (2019). Effect of service quality on customer loyalty in selected African Airlines. Economic Research, 3(10), 1-19. doi:https://doi.org/10.29226/TR1001.2019.159
Pappas, I. O. (2018). User experience in personalized online shopping: A fuzzy-set analysis. European Journal of Marketing, 52(7/8). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-10-2017-0707
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Malhotra, A. (2005). Es-qual: A multiple-item scale for assessing electronic service quality. Journal of Service Research, 7(3), 213-233. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670504271156
Pauwels, K., Leeflang, P. S., Teerling, M. L., & Huizingh, K. E. (2011). Does online information drive offline revenues?: Only for specific products and consumer segments! Journal of Retailing, 87(1), 1-17. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2011.02.002
Shankar, A., Datta, B., & Jebarajakirthy, C. (2019). Are the generic scales enough to measure service quality of mobile banking? A comparative analysis of generic service quality measurement scales to mobile banking context. Services Marketing Quarterly, 40(3), 224-244. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15332969.2019.1630176
Song, Y., Ozdemir, E., Ramesh, S., Adishev, A., Subramanian, S., Harale, A., … others (2020). Dry reforming of methane by stable Ni-Mo nanocatalysts on single-crystalline MgO. Science, 367(6479), 777-781. doi:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav2412
Sousa, R., & Voss, C. (2012). The impacts of e-service quality on customer behaviour in multi-channel e-services. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 23(7-8), 789-806. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2012.661139
Tong, S., Pan, J., Lu, S., & Tang, J. (2018). Patient compliance with antimicrobial drugs: A Chinese survey. American journal of infection control, 46(4), e25-e29. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2018.01.008
Verhoef, P. C., Kannan, P. K., & Inman, J. J. (2015). From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing: introduction to the special issue on multi-channel retailing. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 174-181. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2015.02.005
Wallace, D. W., Giese, J. L., & Johnson, J. L. (2004). Customer retailer loyalty in the context of multiple channel strategies. Journal of retailing, 80(4), 249-263. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2004.10.002
Wu, C., Liu, C., Zhu, Y., Zhou, Z., Jiang, T., Liu, W., … Ye, B. (2016). Early paleozoic magmatic history of central inner mongolia, china: implications for the tectonic evolution of the Southeast Central Asian orogenic belt. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 105(5), 1307-1327. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-015-1250-7
Xuan, W. (2007). Factors affecting the achievement of success in e-tailing in China’s retail industry: A case study of the Shanghai brilliance group (PhD thesis). Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia.
Yang, F., Wong, C. K., Luo, N., Piercy, J., Moon, R., & Jackson, J. (2019). Mapping the kidney disease quality of life 36-item short form survey (KDQOL-36) to the EQ-5D-3L and the EQ-5D-5L in patients undergoing dialysis. The European Journal of Health Economics, 20(8), 1195-1206. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-019-01088-5
Yang, S., Lu, Y., & Chau, P. Y. (2013). Why do consumers adopt online channel? An empirical investigation of two channel extension mechanisms. Decision Support Systems, 54(2), 858-869. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2012.09.011
Yu, K., Lv, J., Qiu, G., Yu, C., Guo, Y., Bian, Z., … others (2020). Cooking fuels and risk of all-cause and cardiopulmonary mortality in urban China: A prospective cohort study. The Lancet Global Health, 8(3), e430-e439. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30525-X
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.