Published
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research
Leveraging the Power of Online Referral for E-Business: The Moderated Mediation Model
Abstract
This study utilized the Kano model to practically identify the key attributes of online service quality of e-learning education companies. Along with a review of theoretical sources related to service quality, this paper placed similar attributes into the same cluster and finalized four constructs, i.e., reliability, responsiveness, competence, and engagement.
In addition, consumer perception plays a mediating role in the relationship between online service quality and online purchase intention, while online customer referral is taken as a moderator indirectly influencing customer perceptions because people like to share their purchasing and usage experiences online. Subsequently, a structured questionnaire was designed and survey data were collected from 418 respondents through various social media. Hypotheses were tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) and SPSS Process Model 4 and 7. The outcomes show (1) consumer perception significantly mediates the relationship between online service quality and online purchase intention, and (2) online customer referral has a profound effect on consumer perception, indicating that it indirectly affects purchase intention. Online customer referral, therefore, may help e-learning education companies to improve service quality with key features that better positions them to target online learners.
Keywords: online customer referral; online purchase intention; consumer perception; online service quality; Kano model; e-SERVQUAL