Customer Loyalty in e‐Commerce Settings: An Empirical Study

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of individual dimensions of perceived service quality on customer satisfaction, trust and loyalty in e‐commerce settings. Empirical results indicate that the perceived service quality has positive direct effects on both customer satisfaction and trust. The results also show that customer satisfaction appears to have a positive direct effect on trust, while both customer satisfaction and trust have direct positive effects on loyalty through word‐of‐mouth and intention. Thus, both satisfaction and trust play an imperative role in creating customer loyalty as suggested by many authors. Some theoretical and managerial implications and suggestions for future research are also provided.

Keywords:

• SERVQUAL
• customer satisfaction
• trust
• loyalty
• e‐commerce setting
• Malaysia