Constructing the Reserach Model of Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Online Shopping: from the Perspectives of Justice Theory and Value Theory Szu-Yuan Sun Department of Information management National Kaohsiung First University of Science & Technology Kaohsiung, Taiwan sunnyy@nkfust.edu.tw Yen-Chieh Chen Program of International MBA National Kaohsiung First University of Science & Technology Kaohsiung, Taiwan naix@nkfust.edu.tw Abstract : Under the circumstance of fierce competition in B2C market, how to increase customer s satisfaction is crucial for sellers success and survival. Numerous studies have already affirmed that customer satisfaction should be taken as a main goal for running business. However, there is still a strong need for seeking a more comprehensive model to explain how customer satisfaction is actually provoked. The aim of this article attempts to explore the antecedents of customer satisfaction and how they related. In the research model, justice theory, perceived value, trust, and convenience are hypothesized to positively affect customer satisfaction in online shopping settings. This study concludes with theoretical and managerial implications, as well as in providing directions for future research. Keywords : Justice theory, Value theory, Customer Satisfaction, Trust, online shopping I. Introduction With the rapid progress of ICTs, over the past two decades, electronic commerce (e-commerce) has observed visibly growth. E-commerce refers to the process of conducting business between enterprises and customers via electronic medium such as internet. E-commerce has shifted the retailing business model, with manufacturers, distributors, and customers using the internet as a medium for transaction processes and communication. This trend of creating a new platform through internet to run business has become a competitive strategy for firms (Celuch et al. 2007). The B2C e-commerce type is the extension of traditional relationship between enterprises and customers, and is commonly considered to play an important role in e- commerce market. According to MIC (2010) forecasted that Taiwan s online shopping market will reach NT$430 billion in 2011. Notably, according to the survey done by MIC (2010), most online shoppers has been purchased directly from online shopping site (63.5%), following by direct purchase from bidding site (58.3%), bidding on bidding site (34.9%), and direct purchase from group buying site (11%). Thus, B2C e- commerce has viewed as one of the most important part of e-commerce and this study focuses on the circumstance of B2C e-commerce as well. System ( ICHCEIMS 2012 ) September 1-2, 2012 Bangkok Page 1
Nowadays, how consumers interact with manufacturers and retailers has been redefined by Internet. While the advantages of e-commerce for retailers are well recognized, one main issue is how to increase customer satisfaction significantly. The role of customer satisfaction as a predictor of repeat purchasing intention and loyalty is critical and has well-established in information system and marketing (Anderson & Srinivasan 2003; Delone & Mclean 2004), particularly as acquiring new customers costs more than retaining existing ones (Reichheld & Schefter 2000). Therefore, understanding how customers leverage the features of the e-commerce to make purchasing decisions in the online shopping settings would bring benefits to the firm. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to find out the role of six variables which includes distributive justice, procedural justice, informational justice, perceived value, trust, and convenience on increasing customer satisfaction in online shopping settings by presenting a conceptual framework. II. THE THEORETICAL MODEL AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESES According to the literature background and based on justice theory, value theory, and individual factors. The relationships among these constructs are integrated in a conceptual model depicted in Figure 1. A. Justice and Customer Satisfaction Justice theory is often employed to explain how customer satisfaction is affected. In the early studies, justice theory was mainly applied in jurisprudence and organization behaviors. Tyler and Blader (2003) have stressed that justice has an impact; it is substantial in magnitude; it is consistently found across a wide variety of group and organizational context; and it is distinct from judgments of self-interest of personal/group gain. Justice theory is a key factor to build customer satisfaction. For instance, after experiencing an unfair treatment, customers will lead to negative emotions and apply some reactions that are unfavorable for firms (Pavlou & Gefen 2004). Perceived fairness is an important factor for customers to evaluate whether they are satisfied or not. If customers feel fairly treated and their input to the exchange is in balance with the output of the exchange, they will be satisfied (Oliver 1997). Justice involves the propriety of decisions; researchers have conceptualized justice into three different types: distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice (Cropanzano et al. 2001). This is clarified by Austin (1979) who proposed, "Justice pertains not merely to outcome distributions, but also to how the distribution is arrived at and the manner by which it is implemented." Thus, justice theory can be applied to evaluate how customer perceived in most transaction process. Justice Distributive Justice H1a+ Perceived Value H3 H2 Trust H4 Procedural Justice Information al Justice H1b H1c Customer Satisfaction H5 Convenienc e System ( ICHCEIMS 2012 ) September 1-2, 2012 Bangkok Page 2
Figure 1 Research Model Justice may be attributed to Web-based services (eg. online shopping sites) because justice judgments are responses to events in a social context (Greenberg & Wiethoff 2001). In the case of online shopping settings, online shopping sites provide various justice-relevant stimuli that are used by customers to form justice judgments about the service and product provided by online shopping sites. Based on the fairness paradigm, numerous perceptions and behaviors are partially guide by beliefs regarding the justice associated with processes and outcomes, especially in online circumstance, which is considered to be a riskier environment for buyers. Because online shopping sites provide many justice stimuli in the entire transaction process through online shopping sites, it is reasonable to assume that justice perceptions will exert a direct effect on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, because customers expect fair treatment from online shopping sites, any unfair treatment and performance that are not as expected may be perceived as a psychological contract violation (Rousseau & Tijoriwala 1998). Such violations may affect future transaction intention, along with customer satisfaction (Pavlou & Gefen 2004). To seize a wider field of relevant justice perceptions, we employs the three dimensional view of justice, which include distributive justice, informational justice, and procedural justice. All three dimensions are projected to affect user s fulfillment. A fairer outcome, a fairer disclosure of information, and a fairer procedure should increase customer s satisfaction. On the other hand, if customers are expected to have justice treatment from the service provider, the injustice treatment may be considered as a psychological contract violation (Rousseau & Tijoriwala 1998). These violations tend to have negative influence on customer satisfaction and thus reduce future transaction intentions (Pavlou & Gefen 2005). These expected effects have received some empirical support. For instance, perceived justice is thought to be a factor in the satisfaction response (Oliver & Swan 1989), and intentions to reuse an auction service have been shown to be affected by justice perceptions (Humphrey et al. 2004). Accordingly, the following hypotheses are proposed: Hypothesis 1a: Distributive justice has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Hypothesis 1b: Procedural justice has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Hypothesis 1c: Informational justice has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. B. Perceived value, Trust, and customer satisfaction Based on the definition expressed by Woodruff (1997), value is the buyer s perceived preference for and evaluation of those attributes, attribute performances and consequences arising from use that facilitate achieving the buyer s expectations and purposes. Zeithaml et al.(1996) further suggested perceived value as a trade-off between benefits and sacrifices perceived by a buyer from a supplier s offering. Barry and Johnson (2004) proposed that perceived value can reduce exchange uncertainty and helping the buyer to form consistent and reliable expectations toward the service provider. Since trust is based on an assessment of the service provider s ability to meet the buyer s expectations and perceived value reflect the perception of how well the service provider is likely to satisfy the buyer s expectation through comparing the System ( ICHCEIMS 2012 ) September 1-2, 2012 Bangkok Page 3
benefit received and the effort gave, perceived value is consider to have an positive influence on trust (Harris & Goode 2004). These views lead to: H2: Perceived value has a positive effect on trust. The connection between perceived value and customer satisfaction has often been argued in the services marketing literature. Anderson et al. (1994) suggested that value has a direct impact on how satisfied customers are with a supplier. Indeed, perceived value has recognized as a key concept in influencing preference, satisfaction and loyalty (Cronin et al. 2000). The essentialness of perceived value in online shopping stems from the fact that it is easy to compare product features and prices online (Anderson & Srinivasan 2003). Other studies also show a similar concept that customer satisfaction is the result of a customer s perception of value received (Heo & Han 2003). Thus, the following hypothesis was tested: H3: Perceived value has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. C. Trust and Customer Satisfaction Satisfaction will be expected to be increased when a customer trusts a service provider (Kassim & Abdullah 2008). On the contrary, if a customer does not trust the service provider, he or she may then be dissatisfied with that service provide. Other studies also found that distrust is one of the main factor preventing consumers from purchasing products and services through internet (Lee et al. 2006). In the work done by Pavlou and Gefen (2004), they suggested that buyers generally have stronger intentions to make transactions with online sellers whom they trust. In previous research works, trust is empirically found to be a significant predictor of satisfaction in online environment (Harris & Goode 2004; Kim et al. 2009). Thus, we supposed that trust should be established by online shopping sites in order to fulfill customer satisfaction. Thus, we proposed the following hypothesis. H4: Trust has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. D. Convenience and Customer Satisfaction Schaffer (2000) suggested that a convenience website offers a less response time, minimized customer effort, and fast completion of a transaction process. Indeed, in online shopping settings, customers are expected to have a fast and efficient transaction process to minimize their effort. According to Schaffer (2000), thirty percent of customers who leave a shopping site without purchasing anything do so because they are unable to surf their way through the shopping site. Moreover, if customers are thwart and disappointed in their effort to seek information or during the transaction process, customers are tending to reduce their repurchase intention (Cameron 1999). Therefore, the experience of surfing a logical and convenient website may fulfill customers need, and further increase customer satisfaction. Thus, we have the following hypothesis: H5: Convenience has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. III. Discussion And Implications The primary contribution of this research is that a set of interrelationship between important factors that tend to be associated with customer satisfaction in online shopping settings was specified. In this study, we developed the research model of how the factors influence customer satisfaction. System ( ICHCEIMS 2012 ) September 1-2, 2012 Bangkok Page 4
Several theoretical implications can be drawn from this study. In terms of theory building, this study attempts to construct a model to examine the overarching variables that affect customer satisfaction in online shopping settings. The literature is somewhat contradictory with respect to impact of justice theories on customer satisfaction. The prevailing research suggested that procedural justice should play a prominent role to fulfilled customer satisfaction. The present findings show that customer satisfaction was primary on the degree to which the exchange was perceived as equitable in terms of gain and lost, and how the transaction platform interface is presented. Although procedural justice seems play no significant role on customer satisfaction, the rest variables (distributive justice, informational justice, perceived value, trust, and convenience) explained a lot how customer satisfaction is fulfilled. This study extends the justice literature from employee-organization relationships to buyer-seller relationships in online shopping environment. This study has taken a step in the direction of integrating different variables to evaluate customer satisfaction in B2C e-commerce. For an empirical perspective, these findings lead us to believe that a customer is not fulfilled by a single factor, but from several causes. Managers need to know how their consumers define satisfaction and then interpret satisfaction scales to accurately target, report, and respond to customer satisfaction. Moreover, service provider should take buyer s fairness perceptions with regard to the correctness, quality, and delivery of the product and service in to consideration, meanwhile, these products and services should be obtained by customers within acceptable sacrifices in terms of money, time, and effort. The contents in online shopping site are also an important concern for customers as well how the contents are presented. Furthermore, online shopping sites should try to refine their content to meet customers need and improve the user interface in order to prevent users leave the page without purchasing just because they can t survey the shopping site intuitively. This study also underscore the importance of trust, online shopping sites should increase customers belief. A vital way for increase customers trust is to treat customers with respect, friendliness, benevolence, and integrity by presenting a competence to achieve these commitments. To put it briefly, customer satisfaction is affected from multiple factors which should be clarified and taken seriously. References 1. Anderson, E. W., Fornell, C., & Lehmann, D. R. (1994). Customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability: findings from Sweden, Journal of Marketing, 58, 53-66. 2. Anderson, J.C. & Gerbing, D.W. (1988), Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and recommended two step approach, Psychological Bulletin, 103, 411-423. 3. Anderson, R. E., & Srinivasan, S. S. (2003). E-satisfaction and e-loyalty: A contingency framework, Psychology and Marketing, 20, 123-138. 4. Austin, W. G. (1979). Justice Freedom and Self-Interest in Intergroup Relations. In Austin, W.G. and Worchel, S. (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA. 5. Barry, J., & Johnson, W. (2004). Value and trust determinants in industrial after-sales: the mediating role of goal congruence. AMA Winter Educator Conference Proceedings, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL. 6. Cameron, M. (1999). Content that works on the web, Target Marketing, 1, 22 58. System ( ICHCEIMS 2012 ) September 1-2, 2012 Bangkok Page 5
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