The antecedents and consequents of relationship quality in internet shopping

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the significance of relationship quality factors (customer satisfaction, e‐trust, and e‐commitment) on positive word of mouth (WOM) in online retailing. Design/methodology/approach – The relative importance of site characteristics in online retailing on customer satisfaction was examined and the relationship among customer satisfaction, trust, and commitment in offline was identified. This paper then proposes a conceptual model of the relationship among site characteristics, relationship quality, and WOM in online retailing. AMOS 5.0 was used to test for the hypothesized relationships. Findings – All of site characteristics in online retailing have a positive influence on customer satisfaction. Communication of site characteristics has a positive effect on customer satisfaction more than the other factors (shopping convenience, site design, informativeness, and security). Customer satisfaction affects positively e‐commitment more than it does e‐trust. E‐commitment affects positively WOM more than it does e‐trust. This paper identifies the causal relationship among site characteristics, relationship quality, and WOM. Further, the relative importance of customer satisfaction in relationship quality of online retailing is examined. Originality/value – Results provide important insights into the impact of site characteristics in online retailing on customer satisfaction compared to other previous researches. In addition, e‐trust and e‐commitment are identified as important antecedents of e‐WOM.