A Comparison of Formative Versus Reflective Approaches for the Measurement of Electronic Service Quality

Author(s)
Marios Theodosiou, Evangelia Katsikea, Somayeh Samiee, Katerina Makri
Abstract

Drawing upon the extant literature, we examine the definition, conceptualization, and measurement of electronic service quality (e-SQ) and propose an alternative measurement approach. We posit that customers' perceptions of overall e-SQ are influenced by six proximal antecedents: security/privacy, fulfillment/reliability, website design, customer service, informativeness, and customization. Using three independent samples of real customers of three hotel reservation sites, we assess the proposed measurement approach via appropriate scale development procedures. Findings indicate that a causal structure that considers e-SQ as a distinct construct that is influenced by six proximal antecedents should be preferred over a second-order reflective measurement model. We discuss theoretical implications of our proposed measurement method, make recommendations for service firms, and offer directions for future research.

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
University of Cyprus, King's College London, University of Tulsa, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU)
Journal
Journal of interactive marketing
Volume
47
Pages
53-67
No. of pages
15
ISSN
1094-9968
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2019.03.004
Publication date
2019
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
502016 SME-research
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Marketing, Business and International Management
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/6d38607d-3cc0-412b-8ba1-c4f533a72e73