e-SELFQUAL: A scale for measuring online self-service quality

The proposed scale, e-SELFQUAL, provides a means for examining the relationships between online service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as loyalty in e-retailing, and has several important implications for research and business practice.

Abstract

The measurement of online self-service quality has become increasingly crucial as firms deliver an expanding array of services through their Web sites. Substantial research examines online services using salient scales primarily developed for personnel-orchestrated, face-to-face services; several recently developed scales that target online services focus on important information and/or system characteristics but do not consider e-retailers' fundamental roles holistically. The reported research synthesizes relevant previous research and proposes a conceptual framework to examine the quality of online self-services in e-retailing. The proposed framework then guides a scale development effort that includes a series of pilot and validation studies. The resulting scale, e-SELFQUAL, provides a means for examining the relationships between online service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as loyalty in e-retailing. This study has several important implications for research and business practice.