European Journal of Marketing

Emerald Article: E-retailing by banks: e-service quality and its

importance to customer satisfaction
Carmel Herington, Scott Weaven

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European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 43 Iss: 9 pp. 1220 - 1231
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EJM
43,9/10

E-retailing by banks: e-service

quality and its importance to
customer satisfaction

1220

Carmel Herington and Scott Weaven

Received April 2007

Revised February 2008
Accepted August 2008

Department of Marketing, Griffith Business School, Griffith University,

Gold Coast, Australia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the measurement of e-service quality for e-retail
banking, the importance of e-service quality dimensions to e-retail bank customers, and the
relationship between e-service quality and customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach Results are drawn from a self-completed survey of a
convenience sample of 200 Australian respondents who regularly use online banking facilities.
Factor analysis and regression analysis are used to ascertain factor structure and determine the impact
of e-service quality dimensions on satisfaction.
Findings A four-factor solution (E-ServQual) represented by personal needs, site organisation,
user-friendliness and efficiency is found, with all factors rated as important. E-ServQual is found to
be a predictor of overall customer satisfaction with banking performance, but efficiency is not found
to be predictive. Overall satisfaction is lower than overall e-service quality.
Research limitations/implications The Australian sample limits generalisability. Future
research should investigate the importance of human interaction in the provision of quality service,
re-test the developed measure with new data, explore the e-service quality construct further, and
investigate its relationship with customer satisfaction and the exposed unknown negative influences
on customer satisfaction, in other international settings.
Originality/value The paper informs knowledge gaps related to the measurement and structure of
e-service quality, its importance and impact on customer satisfaction. A more holistic measure of
e-service quality is supported. Good e-service performance impacts customer satisfaction positively,
but does not override unsatisfactory performance in other areas. Banks need to be mindful that online
service provision is not sufficient for ensuring customer satisfaction with their overall service.
Keywords Virtual banking, Customer satisfaction, Customer services quality
Paper type Research paper

European Journal of Marketing

Vol. 43 No. 9/10, 2009
pp. 1220-1231
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0309-0566
DOI 10.1108/03090560910976456

Introduction
Advances in technology impact service delivery options and approaches within service
industries, leading to the active pursuit of e-retailing as a key method of service
provision. This is particularly so within the financial services sectors in Australia and
the UK, where banks actively encourage customers towards using online sites
(Al-Hawari and Ward, 2006). However, greater transaction efficiency through reducing
employee numbers and physical facilities in favour of web-based service delivery
infrastructure may negatively impact customer perceptions of service quality due to
reductions in human interaction in service exchanges (Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi, 2003).
The authors would like to acknowledge their gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and the
Guest Editors for their support and guidance throughout the review process.

Although banks attempt to mitigate consumer concerns through providing online

accounts that typically attract reduced fees and higher interest, managing the ongoing
tension between efficiency and human interaction represents a challenge to banking
institutions wishing to encourage ongoing consumer loyalty and retention. Current
research suggests that customers place great importance on the value and convenience
offered by banks (Lewis and Soureli, 2006) and that customer satisfaction (which is
influenced by service quality perceptions) is a key antecedent of consumer loyalty
towards banking institutions. But, does the quality of the online services provided
actually result in higher levels of overall satisfaction of consumers?
This paper provides a significant contribution to the literature by exploring the
nature of e-service quality using the banking context. The literature review reveals
confusion and gaps in understanding the nature of the e-service quality concept, and
how it operates within the banking context as well as a lack of specific knowledge as to
how the quality of online banking sites impacts customers overall satisfaction with
their bank. A research project designed to examine these factors is explained and the
results reported and discussed. The major contributions reported is a more holistic
representation of e-service quality, as well as updated information about the important
aspects of online service quality to consumers.
Literature review
Service quality
Service quality represents the difference between customer expectations of what a firm
should provide (i.e. expectations) and perceived service performance (Parasuraman
et al., 1988). Past research establishes relationships between service quality and costs
(Crosby, 1979), profitability (Santos, 2003), customer satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor,
1992) and word-of-mouth marketing (Caruana, 2002). In addition, the level of service
quality influences post-purchase behaviour and an individuals future decisions
(Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi, 2003).
The assessment of service quality is largely based upon Parasuraman et al.s (1988)
original development of the measure of perceived service quality. Considerable
empirical examination of the reliability and validity of the scale has resulted in a
22-item scale (Parasuraman et al., 1991), measuring five dimensions of service quality:
(1) reliability;
(2) tangibles;
(3) empathy;
(4) responsiveness; and
(5) assurance.
SERVQUAL is widely utilised in a variety of industries, including the banking
industry (e.g. Caruana, 2002) and is an important antecedent to customer satisfaction,
which is inextricably linked to consumer pre-purchase behaviour and consumption
decision-making (Cronin and Taylor, 1992).
Studies specific to the traditional retail banking industry confirm the link between
service quality, productivity, reduced costs and profitability (Newman and Cowling,
1996). Zhu and Chen (2002) find that IT-based services indirectly impact upon a
customers perceived service quality and satisfaction, and Wang et al. (2003) find

E-retailing by
banks

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support for service and product quality impacting upon the reputation of financial
institutions. Caruana (2002) discover customer satisfaction mediating the relationship
between service quality and service loyalty. Jun et al. (1999) uncover differences
between bankers and customers with regards to the importance each placed upon
different service quality dimensions. Al-Hawari and Ward (2006) provide broad
support for the mediating role of customer service between automated (i.e. internet,
telephone and ATMs) service quality and financial performance, whilst Jabnoun and
Al-Tamimi (2003) discover that customers value the human skills dimension the most.
The examination of the literature finds a research tradition supporting the importance
of the provision of quality service by banks is well established, although the
examination of service quality within the online banking context is less clear.
E-service quality
The rise of internet-based services has changed the way that firms and consumers
interact. E-service is conceptualised as an interactive information service (Rowley,
2006) providing a mechanism for firms to differentiate their service offering and build
competitive advantage (Santos, 2003). Key themes within the e-service quality
literature include the dimensions and measurement of e-service, elements of the web
experience and the relationship between the web-experience, trust, customer
satisfaction, intention to purchase, and loyalty (Rowley, 2006). This emphasis on the
role of technological service facilitators contrasts to traditional service quality research
which emphasises the human element of service delivery (Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi,
2003).
Previous e-service quality research has attracted criticism for adopting traditional
SERVQUAL dimensions in online environments, developing scales without sufficient
empirical validation, focusing on the evaluation of web site quality rather than entire
service quality dimensions, and excluding the assessment of the consumer buying
process (Kim et al., 2005; Parasuraman et al., 2005). For instance, Szymanski and Hise
(2000) examine satisfaction assessments rather than customer service or fulfilment in
the context of online convenience, merchandising, site design and financial security
(Zeithaml et al., 2002) and Yoo and Donthu (2001) develop a four-item SITEQUAL scale
focusing mainly on web site characteristics including ease of use, aesthetic design,
processing speed and security.
On identifying these deficiencies, Zeithaml et al. (2002) develop an e-service quality
measure (e-SQ), consisting of five dimensions:
(1) information availability;
(2) ease of use;
(3) privacy/security;
(4) graphic style; and
(5) reliability.
In a subsequent study (Parasuraman et al., 2005) examining e-service quality in online
shopping sites, this is reduced to four dimensions:
(1) efficiency;
(2) fulfilment;

(3) availability; and

(4) privacy.

E-retailing by
banks

In an examination of e-service quality provided by online book and CD stores, Ribbink

et al. (2004) also support five dimensions:
(1) assurance;
(2) ease of use;
(3) e-scape;
(4) responsiveness; and
(5) customisation.
While the research into the nature of e-service quality remains exploratory, at this
stage e-service quality appears to be multi-dimensional in nature. Importantly, we note
that existing research into e-service quality is based on the examination of actual
service quality performance. The opportunity now exists to extend this by assessing
the degree to which the measures are fully representative of customer expectations.
There are many studies assessing e-service quality in banking contexts, with most
emphasising the importance of technical aspects of web site delivery. Tsikriktsis (2002)
finds two dimensions of customer culture related to quality expectations in online
banking. Jayawardhena (2004) determines that customers place importance upon
downloading speed, navigatability and search feature efficiency, and concludes that
banks should focus on building trust through ensuring the security and privacy of
customer information. In the context of online retail brokerage services, Chen and Hitt
(2002) establish that system quality, product line breadth and product line quality
impact upon consumer switching behaviour and retention.
Other research investigating electronic delivery channels (including internet
banking, ATMs and telephone banking) confirms banking success and profitability as
being dependent upon service quality (Al-Hawari and Ward, 2006; Santos, 2003).
However, as Al-Hawari and Ward (2006) indicate, a significant relationship between
internet service quality and consumer satisfaction is yet to be established, and this gap
provides the impetus for an examination of how important attributes of online delivery
such as web site content, information accuracy, security, timeliness of information and
web site aesthetics are to consumers. Hence, this research is positioned within the
specific context of internet banking exclusively, to avoid biasing influences of multiple
e-channel distribution methods.
Therefore, this research extends current understanding of e-service quality through
examination of the following questions:
RQ1. How is e-service quality best measured for online banking?
RQ2. Are there any particular e-service quality aspects that are of particular
importance to online banking customers?
RQ3. How do banks actually perform in relation to e-service quality?

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1224

Method
A quantitative study is determined most appropriate for examination of the
measurement of e-service quality, taking the form of distribution of a survey
questionnaire. The sample is a convenience sample of 200 respondents from the Gold
Coast region of Australia. Consistent with Pope et al. (2004), respondents are
approached at a drive-through petrol station as they pay for their fuel. This approach is
deemed appropriate as petrol stations offer the dual benefit of accessing prospects from
a broad range of backgrounds, as well as providing a captive audience for achieving a
response. Online administration of the survey is not adopted due to low recorded
response rates to web-based surveys (Comley, 2000, cited in Ilieva et al., 2002).
A qualifying question, Do you use the internet to do your banking? is used to seek
only respondents who utilised online banking facilities. Willingness to participate in
the self-complete survey about their overall experience with online banking services
provided by their main bank is sought from qualified respondents. They are given the
option of taking the questionnaire away and returning it in an attached unidentifiable
envelope, to a box provided at the service station or alternatively completing the
questionnaire immediately. All respondents are offered a free cup of coffee as an
incentive to participate.
Examination of demographic characteristics indicates the most common respondent
to be female (55 percent female, 45 percent male), aged between 20 and 40 (44 percent),
who accesses the internet every day (43 percent) or nearly every day (i.e. 2-6 days per
week 39 percent). Respondents are mostly in the mid-income ranges for Australia
($AUD21; 601 2 63; 000 40 percent; $AUD63; 001 2 95; 000 19 percent). All
respondents have made at least one previous online purchase, qualifying them as
having the experience and knowledge to evaluate the online service provided by their
banks.
E-service quality is measured using the items from the efficiency and availability
dimensions of the Parasuraman et al. (2005) scale. The other two dimensions of
fulfillment and privacy are not used, as they pertain to order fulfillment and
safeguarding of customers private information (eg not selling private information).
These are deemed not relevant for online banking. Instead, the items from the ease of
use, e-scape, responsiveness, customisation and assurance dimensions of Ribbink
et al.s (2004) e-service quality scale are included. These items cover areas that are
judged (by the researchers) as likely to be important to online bank customers in their
evaluation of e-service quality, and their inclusion is supported by a pre-test of
e-service quality items. A total of 32 items are used to capture respondent views about
e-service quality. Respondents are asked to indicate both the level of importance they
place on each item and how they rate their own banks performance on each of the
items. Satisfaction is measured using a four-item measure previously used by Ribbink
et al. (2004) in their online research. Five point Likert scales are utilised to collect
participant responses, in an effort to increase the response rate and quality of
responses and to reduce respondent fatigue.
Results
The e-service quality measure (E-ServQual)
Average importance ratings are calculated to exclude items not deemed important by
respondents. With means below 4 (all , 3.7), five items are discarded. Careful scrutiny

of these items confirms that they are not likely to be important to customers when
utilising online banking services.
Reliability is improved by removing 12 items that fail to correlate at the 0.3 level
with at least 50 per cent of all other individual e-service quality items (Hair et al., 1995).
These items are mostly from Ribbink et al.s (2004) scale. Closer inspection suggests
these are measuring technical aspects of web-site quality design (e.g. web site
appearance) rather than the quality of the online service offering. This finding supports
Kim et al. (2005), who argue against the inclusion of items related to web site quality
rather than service quality when examining e-service dimensions.
The remaining 15 items are factor analysed, finding a four-factor solution
accounting for a combined 83.5 per cent of total variance. Using Varimax rotation, all
but one item are found to load strongly on to a single factor. This item is discarded.
Final items and factor loadings are provided in Table I. The extracted factors are not
dissimilar to the original factors identified by Parasuraman and colleagues (Zeithaml
et al., 2002; Parasuraman et al., 2005; Ribbink et al., 2004). However, we choose factor
labels reflecting the online banking context. The first factor encompasses the need for
security of personal banking details and is labelled personal needs. The site
organisation factor includes items from the original Parasuraman et al. (2005) scale
concerning the ease of access to the web site due to good web site organisation. We
label the third factor user-friendliness, as these items pertain to the ease with which
users can navigate within the site. Consistent with Parasuraman et al. (2005), the final

Personal
needs
I feel completely safe when making
transactions on this site
I feel that my personal needs have been
met when using this site
This site provides me with information
and products according to my
preferences
This site is simple to use
The site is well organised
I can get on to the site quickly
I am satisfied with the site design
This site is user-friendly
Navigation on this site is easy
This site launches and runs right away
Pages at this site do not freeze
It is easy to find what I need on the
web site
It is easy to get anywhere on the site
I can complete a transaction quickly
Reliability

Site
organisation

Factor
Userfriendliness

E-retailing by
banks

1225

Efficiency of
web site

0.955
0.954
0.895
0.948
0.948
0.947
0.497
0.917
0.915
0.781
0.775
0.882
0.832
0.811
0.96

0.92

0.91

0.80

Note: Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser
normalisation

Table I.
Factors, factor loadings
and reliabilities for
E-ServQual

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1226

factor is termed efficiency, as these items relate to web site efficiency when
customers interact and transact on the site.
All four factors demonstrate reliability, with Cronbachs alphas all above the
required 0.70 cut-offs. Reliabilities are reported in Table I. Composites are created for
each of the four dimensions to assess validity, and the relationships amongst
dimensions and with customer satisfaction. Discriminant validity is determined with
all AVEs larger than inter-correlations and all greater than 0.50 (Fornell and Larcker,
1981), as reported in Table II. This e-service quality measure is labelled E-ServQual.
Satisfaction
Following assessment of item-total correlations, which reveals that no removal of items
would enhance reliability of the measure, the four items used to measure satisfaction
form a single factor explaining 78.5 per cent of total variance. A Cronbachs alpha of
0.88 establishes reliability for the measure. Discriminant validity from the e-service
quality dimensions is determined through finding lower correlations with e-service
quality dimension composites (see Table II).
Regression analysis
The results of the multiple regression analysis are reported in Table III. The variance
explained in the dependent variable (i.e. satisfaction) by the E-ServQual dimensions is
38 per cent, which is significant (F 21:03, p , 0:00). All variables are significantly
correlated with satisfaction. The personal needs factor correlates strongly,
user-friendliness and site organisation are moderately correlated, whilst the
efficiency correlation is small (Cohen, 1988). In addition, correlations between the
independent variables are all below the cut-off of 0.70, indicating that inter-correlations

Table II.
Squared correlations and
AVEa amongst the
E-ServQual factors

Table III.
Relationships between
E-ServQual factors and
satisfaction with
e-retailer

1
2
3
4

Personal needs
Site organisation
User-friendliness
Efficiency
Satisfaction

0.93
0.34
0.27
0.22
0.02

0.72
0.49
0.56
0.05

0.70
0.43
0.01

0.74
0.01

Note: aAVE on diagonal

Beta weights

VIF

Personal needs
Site organisation
User-friendliness
Efficiency

0.69 * *
0.22 * *
0.17 *
0.07

9.08
2.74
2.18
1.02

1.57
2.41
2.09
2.42

R2
Adjusted R 2
Overall F-value

0.38
0.37
21.03 * *

Notes: Dependent variable: satisfaction. *Significant (p , 0:05); * *significant (p , 0:01)

are acceptable (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2001). No evidence of serious multicollinearity

is found between the independent variables, with all VIF scores less than 3 and well
below the cut-off of VIF 10 (Neter et al., 1989).
Personal needs is found to have the greatest influence on satisfaction (b 0:69,
t 9:08, p , 0:05). Hence, personalisation of web sites is a significant predictor of
customer satisfaction in online banking situations. The next strongest contribution is
made by site organisation (b 0:22, t 2:74, p , 0:05) and then user-friendliness
(b 0:17, t 2:18, p , 0:05). Efficiency makes the smallest contribution (b 0:07,
t 1:02, p 0:3) which is not statistically significant. The results provide predictive
validity for the model, with examination of the t-values indicating that personal
needs, site organisation and user-friendliness contribute to prediction of
satisfaction. Tests with co-variances did not alter results.
Finally, we compare the mean scores for the banks in terms of performance and
importance. Overall, banks are found to be performing best on efficiency, exhibiting
a mean performance rating of 4.00 (SD 0:70), slightly higher than the other
E-ServQual factors (see Table IV). Yet, this dimension does not have a significant
impact upon customer satisfaction. The overall level of satisfaction, however, is found
to be considerably lower than the ratings of the E-ServQual dimensions as well as
overall E-ServQual, indicating that some other unknown (and unmeasured) factor is
negatively impacting on overall satisfaction[1].
In relation to ratings of importance, even though all dimensions exhibit mean
importance well above 4 (ranging from 4.20 to 4.60), efficiency is also found to be
rated as slightly more important than the other three dimensions, despite not being
significantly related to satisfaction.

E-retailing by
banks

1227

Discussion
We are able to find a four-dimensional representation of E-ServQual, drawn from items
previously used by Parasuraman et al. (2005) and Ribbink et al. (2004), that explains a
high proportion of variance in E-ServQual. Our four dimensions represent factors in a
similar manner to both Parasuraman et al. (2005) and Ribbink et al. (2004), and these
four factors are determined to be valid elements for measuring online banking using
E-ServQual. Our contribution is bring together the e-service quality elements
separately identified by Parasuraman et al. (2005) and Ribbink et al. (2004) to provide
an all-encompassing measure of e-service quality, called E-ServQual.
As expected, e-service quality is found to be related to satisfaction, and our measure
explains 38 per cent of variance in satisfaction, although most of this was explained by
the personal needs dimension. This result is not unexpected as service quality is
based upon customers personal perceptions, and previous research indicates that

Efficiency
Personal needs
User-friendliness
Site organisation
Overall service quality
Satisfaction

Mean importance

SD

Mean performance

SD

4.60
4.35
4.34
4.20
N/A
N/A

0.56
0.60
0.74
0.67
N/A
N/A

4.00
3.88
3.83
3.86
3.90
3.21

0.70
0.89
0.70
0.63
0.61
0.59

Table IV.
Means for actual
performance of banks on
E-ServQual and
satisfaction and mean
importance for
E-ServQual dimensions

EJM
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1228

individual/personal interaction aspects are highly valued by customers (Jabnoun and

Al-Tamimi, 2003).
Although efficiency is found to be most important overall, and rated highest by
respondents, it has the least impact upon satisfaction. From our perspective, we believe
that efficiency is important, but automatically expected by bank customers. Thus,
efficiency may be acting as a hygiene factor (Herzberg, 1982), in that it is an expected
requirement, but leads to no dissatisfaction rather than to satisfaction. However (as
happens when hygiene factors are missing), it is valuable to investigate whether
efficiency impacts upon dissatisfaction when efficiency is not evident on web sites.
Also, efficiency might be indirectly related to service quality, via some other
currently unexamined and unknown mediator.
In terms of actual performance in relation to the provision of e-service quality on
their e-retailing sites, the banks appear to be performing well. Means, in terms of
performance across the four E-ServQual factors, are similar, with the efficiency
dimension rating slightly higher overall. However, despite these good results, overall
satisfaction is significantly lower, just above the mid-point (3.21), whilst overall
E-ServQual scores a high mean of 3.90. Although E-ServQual has an important impact
on satisfaction (as indicated by the R 2 value) it is possible that another important
factor is negatively impacting upon satisfaction amongst respondents to this survey. In
a further examination of other possible factors effecting satisfaction, and in particular
online satisfaction, we suggest price as one possible factor. Whilst price is not a
relevant direct factor in relation to the provision of online quality for banks, bank fees
and charges do impact upon customer satisfaction, and price has previously been
nominated as an issue for customers (Al-Hawari and Ward, 2006). Hence, it is possible
that the price of dealing with a bank moderates the relationship between e-service
quality and customer satisfaction with banking institutions.
The theoretical implications of this research are manifold. First, the support for and
importance placed upon all service quality dimensions suggests that Ribbink et al.
(2004) and Parasuraman et al. (2005) previously captured different aspects of e-service
quality. We integrate these to provide an updated representation of E-ServQual for the
e-retailing banking context. In an attempt to address Santoss (2003) call for
context-specific service quality research, we recommend that this updated E-ServQual
measure be applied in the context of high and low e-service quality providers in other
financial services firms (for example brokerages) and other online service industries.
Second, it is possible that some as yet unknown factor is negatively impacting
customer satisfaction. Qualitative interviews with e-retail bank customers should be
conducted to reveal the issues influencing positive customer satisfaction outcomes.
This research implies that the provision of functional, safe and reliable bank web
sites is an insufficient means of satisfying customers. Consistent with previous
research (e.g. Al-Hawari and Ward, 2006), our findings confirm that some aspects of
service quality do not impact upon customer satisfaction. We speculate that an absence
of human interaction in online service provision may be the main driver for lower
customer satisfaction levels (Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi, 2003). This has implications for
prior approaches to rationalise branches and local staff, and may explain why some
Australian banks are now choosing to differentiate their brand through re-opening
outlets, extending operating hours and employing local staff to manage customer
interactions. Therefore, bank e-retailers need to be mindful of the role and importance

of traditionally provided services in fostering long-term relationships with their

customers.
Limitations
As the sample is derived from one region of Australia, generalisability of the results is
limited. Replication in other settings is recommended. The items are drawn from
existing measures and although tests for reliability and validity provide initial support
for the adopted measures, there remains a possibility that not all e-service quality
dimensions are captured. We recommend qualitative interviews with customers to
provide additional insight into any other aspects of e-service quality that are yet to be
examined. This may be achieved through comparison with other measures or and/or a
global measure of e-service quality. Finally, although this research considers customer
satisfaction as an overall outcome, future qualitative research may provide a better
understanding of the factors influencing lower levels of customer satisfaction with
current e-retailing approaches and uncover aspects that are missing from current
banking online service provision.
Conclusion
The aim of this article was to explore the measurement of e-service quality in the
financial services setting, finding that a combination of four dimensions relating to
personal needs, site organisation, user-friendliness and efficiency, best
represents the measurement of e-service quality (E-ServQual) within the online
banking context in Australia. The scale demonstrates good psychometric properties.
Our results show that (apart from efficiency) personal needs, user-friendliness
and site organisation impact significantly and positively upon customer satisfaction.
Importantly, we also uncover an unknown factor that is negatively affecting customer
satisfaction, which we suggest may relate to the absence of human interaction. This
warrants further investigation, as does the possible moderating influence of bank fees
and charges as the price of banking service. This approach will assist banks in
assessing their individual performance in relation to e-service quality, and provide a
basis for researchers to further investigate alternative methods of customer interaction
that will assist in improving customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention on e-retail
banking sites.
Note
1. The 12 discarded E-ServQual items and did not negatively impact customer satisfaction.
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About the authors
Carmel Herington is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Griffith University Gold
Coast Campus, Australia. Her research interests include service quality and the provision of
quality service processes through relationship building, internal relationships and their impact
on other relationships of the firm, ethical business practices and marketing education. She has
published in Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of
Hospitality Management, Journal of Travel Research, Academy of Marketing Science Review,
Journal of Marketing Education and Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, amongst
others. Carmel Herington is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:
c.herington@griffith.edu.au
Scott Weaven is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing, and Deputy Director of the
Asia Pacific Centre of Franchising Excellence at Griffith University. He holds a Bachelor of
Business, Master of Business Administration (with Distinction) and PhD in franchising from
Griffith University. He co-authored the Franchising Australia surveys in 2002, 2004, 2006 and
2008 and has published franchising and services marketing research in such journals as
European Journal of Marketing, International Small Business Journal, and Journal of Business
Ethics.

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