Title: Role of e-service quality in articulating e-WOM: a serial mediation approach

Authors: Baljit Kaur

Addresses: Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak, Haryana, 124010, India

Abstract: The current paper examines the mechanism to generate positive electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) through e-service quality. The study further examines the mediation of satisfaction, trust, and loyalty between e-service quality and e-WOM. The proposed model was tested using a serial mediation approach. Five hundred forty-five respondents filled a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that all proposed hypotheses were supported except for the direct influence of e-service quality on e-WOM. Results indicate a full mediation of e-satisfaction, e-trust, and e-loyalty between e-service quality and e-WOM. The service managers of electronic services should focus on service quality elements to provide a satisfactory service. However, they should try to build trust and loyalty along with satisfaction, if they expect to generate better word-of-mouth.

Keywords: serial mediation; e-service quality; e-satisfaction; e-WOM; e-loyalty; e-trust.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2020.113428

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2020 Vol.12 No.4, pp.309 - 325

Received: 30 Apr 2020
Accepted: 16 Jul 2020
Published online: 04 Mar 2021 *

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