3.6.3 Customer Satisfaction as a Mediating Variable
Recent research has greatly enhanced knowledge concerning the link between value,
customer satisfaction and loyalty (Cronin
et al.
2000, Deng
et al.
2010, Flint
et al.
2011),
however, at yet little attention has been devoted to examining the link between TCs, customer
satisfaction and loyalty in the e-commerce domain. This study posits an alternative
mechanism for the TCs - customer loyalty relationship whereby customer satisfaction
mediates the effect of TCs on customer loyalty. Understanding how satisfaction acts in the
relationship between TCs and loyalty provides guidelines for management practices in online
firms seeking to improve their customer loyalty.
3.6.3.1 TCs Affect Customer Satisfaction
In this study, customer satisfaction is defined as how pleased the customer is with services
and products provided by an online store (MacDonald and Smith 2004). The Internet is
believed to reduce cognitive dissonance and information asymmetry through portrayed
availability of information and data pertaining to the availability of markets’ offerings
(Mavlanova
et al.
2012), the fact that this data is drafted by online vendors on their websites
gives them a chance to conceal vital information, which may raise the consumers’ concern
over online vendors’ opportunistic behaviour (Dinev
et al.
2012). This would create
uncertainties in the online transaction process and result in consumers bearing the evaluation,
monitoring and adaptation costs, eventually leading to dissatisfaction. In online buying,
before receiving the product purchased online, consumers might be concerned about the
transportation fee and delivery time. They would invest additional time and effort to monitor
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online vendors to check if their orders are processed in time and to contact the delivery party
to check the delivery status. The time, money, and effort involved in this process would
reduce customer satisfaction with online shopping.
When consumers receive the products, product quality problem may necessitate a need to
return the products for refund or replacement. To this end, they would bear some
psychological, time and monetary costs, which would greatly increase the post-sale costs.
The increased TCs would result in dissatisfaction with the product quality, e-service, or
delivery performance. In a study of TCs in brick-and-mortar stores, Grønhaug and Gilly
(1991) state that satisfaction is related to TCs while Bharadwaj and Matsuno (2006) note that
low TCs positively influence customer satisfaction. In a similar vein, Kim and Li (2009b) and
Kim et al. (2011) suggest that customers tend to be satisfied with the reduced TCs in the
online travel context. Hence, the following hypothesis is put forward:
H4c. A customer’s perception of TCs associated with purchasing from an online store is
negatively related to his/her satisfaction with the online store.
3.6.3.2 Customer Satisfaction Affects Loyalty
According to Anderson and Srinivasan (2003), customer satisfaction means the contentment
of customer with respect to his or her purchasing experience with a given electronic
commerce firm. A dissatisfied customer is more likely to search for information on
alternatives and more likely to yield to competitor overtures than is a satisfied customer. Also,
a dissatisfied customer is more likely to resist attempts by his or her current service provider
to develop a closer relationship and more likely to take steps to reduce dependence on that
provider. Dissatisfied customers may wish to redefine the relationship while satisfied
consumers are more likely to repeat purchase, to resist competitive offers, and to generate
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positive word of mouth (Horppu
et al.
2008, Kassim and Abdullah 2010, Flint
et al.
2011).
Several empirical studies have revealed that customer satisfaction is a general antecedent of
loyalty (MacDonald and Smith 2004, Kim and Li 2009b), and these studies indicate that a
customer cannot be loyal without being highly satisfied. Therefore, the following hypothesis
is advanced:
H5. A customer’s satisfaction with an online store is positively related his/her loyalty
towards the online store.
3.6.3.3 Partially Mediating Role of Consumer Satisfaction
The discussion so far suggests that consumer TCs affect customer loyalty and customer
satisfaction, which in turn affects customer loyalty. Kim and Li (2009b) provide evidence for
some of these links but do not formally test the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the
relationship between TCs and customer loyalty. Theoretical justification for the mediating
role can be attributed to a well-investigated framework in attitudinal literature (Ajzen and
Fishbein 1980). The framework is depicted as follows: Cognition
Affect
Behavioural
intent or behaviour.
Appling this framework to the online retailing context, this study proposes a mediating effect
for customer satisfaction. Consumer TCs reflect consumer’s perceived costs of purchasing a
product or service online and thus is regarded as a cognitive variable. Customer satisfaction is
an affect variable. Customer loyalty concerns behaviour or a disposition to behave positively
toward an online vendor. Thus, the framework provides a basis for hypothesizing that
customer satisfaction mediates the effect of consumer TCs on loyalty. Customer satisfaction,
serving as the missing link in a chain of causation, may provide a more accurate explanation
for the causal effect the consumer TCs have on loyalty.
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In addition, consumer and advertising research suggests that cognition about a product may
also affect a consumer’s purchasing intention and behaviour directly (Vakratsas and Ambler
1999, Koufaris 2002, Ha and Stoel 2009, Yulihasri
et al.
2011).The purchase decision of
these products is directly affected by information that consumers have about these products
(Pavlou and Fygenson 2006). Thus, given the significant direct and indirect effects from TCs
on customer loyalty, the mediation performed by customer satisfaction on the relationship
between TCs and loyalty may be partial. Furthermore, the partial mediation is consistent with
the study by Woodruff and Gardial (1996) that report both a direct effect of consumer TCs on
loyalty and an indirect effect of TCs on loyalty through consumer satisfaction. The findings
of Kim and Li’s (2009) study also imply that a customer’s satisfaction mediates the impact of
his/her perception of TCs on loyalty in the online travel market.
The partially mediating effect of customer satisfaction on the relationship between perceived
TCs and loyalty gains support from the partially mediating effect of customer satisfaction on
the relationship between perceived value and loyalty hypothesized and tested in prior
research. For example, Eggert and Ulaga (2002) state that customer satisfaction partially
mediated the effect of perceived value on loyalty in the retailing context. Although the
authors have their own explanations for why consumer perceived value increases satisfaction
and satisfaction in turn increases loyalty, this researcher believes that the rationale lies in the
concept that it is the consumer TCs that influence value in the first place. Reduced TCs
increase consumer’s perceived value which then increases the satisfaction and satisfaction
finally enhances loyalty.
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Based on this reasoning and the associated evidence, it is hypothesized that customer
satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between TCs and loyalty. Direct effect of TCs
on customer loyalty may achieve significance, consistent with H4b, in addition to the
mediated effect through consumer satisfaction, consistent with H4c and H5.
H6. A customer’s satisfaction with an online store partially mediates the effect of his/her
perception of TCs on loyalty towards the online store.
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