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A STUDY ON THE APPLICABILITY OF ONLINE SERVICE QUALITY MODELS IN

TESTING E-LOYALTY

Article · January 2005

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ISBN: 972-8924-02-X © 2005 IADIS

A STUDY ON THE APPLICABILITY OF ONLINE SERVICE

QUALITY MODELS IN TESTING E-LOYALTY

Marcelo Vallejo García

Escuela Universitaria de Informática. Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca
37002 Salamanca, España

Alfonso José López Rivero

Escuela Universitaria de Informática. Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca
37002 Salamanca, España

Luis Joyanes Aguilar

Facultad de Informática. Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. Campus de Madrid
28040 Madrid España

Juan Manuel Lombardo Enríquez

Facultad de Informática. Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. Campus de Madrid
28040 Madrid España

ABSTRACT
Obtaining the loyalty of the customer has become a basic objective in e-commerce. The attention by the topics related to
loyalty in the Web has motivated the appearance of a new concept: e-loyalty. Given this situation, the question is to know
if a website offers guarantees of loyalty for the firm. This paper presents a description of some models that can be applied
to evaluate service quality on a website. The aim of the research is to study if these models can be applied in assessing the
level of loyalty provided by the website, emphasizing the principal factors controlled by each one.

KEYWORDS
e-Loyalty, website quality, E-SERVQUAL, web quality factors, e-service quality, e-loyalty conceptual
framework.

1. INTRODUCTION
The meaning and importance of the term “loyalty” has been used for decades in the field of marketing (as
early as the 1950s the term “brand loyalty” was already considered part of the commercial policy of
companies) but only in the last few years has the concept been of major importance, as a result of its strategic
role in e-commerce transactions. Companies making use of the Web in developing commercial strategies
work in markets where customer satisfaction (the traditional goal of marketing) is not sufficient to maintain
the relationship between the company and the customer, due to the characteristics of the medium (easy access
to offers, easy evaluation and comparison, low switching costs…). These characteristics make difficult to
ensure that the satisfaction of customers’ needs translates into a lasting commercial relationship. As a
consequence, the term “e-loyalty” has been created to refer to the loyalty of electronic costumers.
The aim of the present research is to analyse the application of these tools for measuring the level of
loyalty to a given website. The starting point consists in the study of the theoretical framework that supports
the change of the strategic objective of the Internet, based on loyalty. Next, the main tools prepared to

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evaluate the quality of a website will be described, and their validity in assessing the level of loyalty provided
by a website, according to the available theoretical framework, will be analyzed.

2. E-LOYALTY: STRATEGIC GOAL IN E-COMMERCE

Although the theoretical bases of e-loyalty are similar to those of the traditional concept, loyalty in the
context of the Internet presents some distinctive characteristics (strategic role of specific factors not
considered in the study of loyalty in the physical world, such as confidence, reputation and privacy; emphasis
upon “on-the-fly” purchases, possibility of developing individualized strategies…). These changes have
modified the theoretical framework in which loyalty is developed on the Internet. In this context, different
studies have emerged.
The model developed by Gommans (Gommans et al, 2001), can be considered the most important work
in this area. Gommans offer a conceptual framework for e-loyalty that contains elements of behavior and
attitude. This model presents 5 underlying drivers: value propositions, brand building, trust&security,
website&technology and customer service. Value proposition refers to product customization and
interactivity, as two main factors that contribute to e-loyalty in online buyer behaviour. Brand image building
is also presented as a strategic tool for developing brand loyalty, including in this concept the domain names.
Trust and security (both concepts are closely related), play a critical role in generating e-loyalty. In the open
and depersonalized setting of e-commerce, when transacting with unknown partners, one way to increasing
loyalty is to win the trust of potential customers, being its lack a significant barrier to the online transactions.
Technological factors (easy navigation, fast page loads, server reliability, quick online shopping, good design
issues…) have a major influence on e-loyalty, mainly server reliability and fast response times. Finally, order
fulfilment and rapid delivery systems are also critical factors to e-loyalty development. Links to FAQs and
online representatives are useful to help customers in the selection or buying process.

Website & Technology Customer Service

- Fast page loads - Fast response to customer inquiries
- Easy to nagivate/browse - Easy to contact
- Personalized website features - Free online applications
- Designed for targeted customer - Easy payment methods
segments Attitude - Fast delivery
- Language options (Affective) - Delivery options
- Effective search functions (Cognitive) - Customer reward system
- Server reliability
- Content
- Quick shopping checkout processes Behavioral
intent
(Conative)

Value proposition Trust & Security

- Customized products Behavior - Trust
- Large set of choices - Third party approval
- Product quality - Privacy
- Guarantees - Reputation
- Well-know brands - Reliability
- Pricing Brand Building - Authentication
- Brand image & involvement - Non-reputation
- Community building

Figure 1. The e-loyalty conceptual framework (Gommans et al, 2001)

Several investigations have demonstrated the links between e-loyalty and the most part of the factors
considered by the model (Luarn and Lin, 2003), (Allagui and Temessek, 2004). These works have measure
the importance attributed to each one of these factors, through the data provided by surveys.

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3. SERVICE QUALITY MODELS

In the last few years several models, developed to assess the quality offered by a website, have appeared.
They constitute the main tool available for conducting this evaluation. The next step is to present the most
important models. Next, their efficiency in evaluating the level of loyalty offered through a website will be
analyzed, in accordance with the previous framework.

3.1 e-SERVQUAL Model

SERVQUAL (Service Quality) (Parasuraman et al, 1985) was developed to cover the lack of an instrument to
measure quality of service. The model is based on a standardized questionnaire, composed of 22 pairs of
questions with two differentiated parts; the first one measures quality expectations on the part of users
through 22 statements; the second one is dedicated to the evaluation of user perception of quality, using a
further 22 statements. Every pair of statements is grouped in accordance with 5 attributes, each of which,
according to its creators, constitutes the basis of quality of service: tangible elements, reliability, efficiency,
security and empathy.
Due the success of the SERVQUAL model in service quality evaluation, an adaptation of this tool has
been developed for it use in e-commerce context. As result, the e-SERVQUAL model was born.
The e-SERVQUAL model (Zeithaml et al, 2002) is a conceptual model of service quality for e-tailing
environments. The model is composed of 7 service quality characteristics: efficiency, fulfilment, reliability,
privacy, responsiveness, compensation and contact. In comparison with the rest of models e-SERVQUAL
has as advantage that it is based on the SERVQUAL approach, which has been extensively tested in
measuring service quality in a variety of contexts. In spite of the received critiques, the model SERVQUAL
constitutes the tool most used in collecting appraisals assigned by the users to the services they receive,
because of his application to different sectors to evaluate the quality of service provided.

3.2 WebQual Model

WebQual model (Barnes and Vidgen, 2001), is based on the application of communication theory to
understand customer – e-commerce interaction. Its main instrument is an online questionnaire which is
applied to assess customer’s perceptions of the quality of websites. The questionnaire contains a set of
qualitative items, evaluated using a seven-point scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
Website users are also asked to rate each item from importance, again using a seven-point scale, from 1 (least
important) to 7 (most important). WebQual has been under development since 1998 and has undergone
numerous iterations. In the current version (WebQual 4.0), the questions (23) cover 4 characteristics of
customer´s perceived quality: usability, design, information quality and service interactions.

3.3 Website Quality Model

The Website Quality model (Zhang and von Dran, 2002) is composed for a set of quality factors of website
design, divided into categories and features, where each feature guides the incorporation of customer’s
quality expectations into the design of a website. The categories include information content, cognitive
outcomes, enjoyment, privacy, user empowerment, visual appearance, technical support, navigation,
organization of information content, credibility and impartiality. Using a questionnaire, each user evaluates
the level (basic, performance or exciting) for each evaluated category. Although the model is oriented
towards the design and usability of the website, also considers other factors, like the customer – website
interaction. The model has been applied in multiple domains (e-education, e-tailing, e-finance…).

3.4 e-SEQUAL Model

E-SEQUAL (Dawson et al, 2003), is an evaluation instrument that integrates CRM and HCI (Human-
Computer Interaction) strategies for the design and evaluation of e-commerce environments. Its aim is
capturing the customer’s expectations of desired service quality and providing guidance for supporting the

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customer not only in his interaction with the website during the e-purchase stage, but across all touch points
via which a customer may interact with the e-business during the service encounter.
The model is composed by a set of requirements (heuristics and sub-heuristics) or solutions that either
resolve or avoid specific obstacles that were observed to diminish a customer’s perception of value. For each
obstacle category, one heuristic is developed, composed for a set of sub-heuristics. An obstacle is an aspect
of the e-commerce environment that makes it unpleasant, difficult, inefficient or impossible for the customer
to achieve a positive total customer experience (usability problems, hidden costs, return of information
unclear or not easily accessible…). The heuristics and the sub-heuristics are classified in 3 categories: pre-
purchase heuristics (related to the state of deciding to make a purchase on a particular website), purchase
heuristics (they involve the customer selecting the product or service that he has decided to buy and then
taking it to the online checkout in order to complete the transaction) and post-purchase heuristics (the set of
heuristics concerns the post - purchase stage of the service encounter).

4. USING SERVICE QUALITY MODELS FOR TESTING E-LOYALTY

Although the models analyzed in the previous section were developed to evaluate the quality of a website,
and not its capacity to maintain the loyalty of visitors, loyalty derives from the level of quality offered.
Studies have revealed that companies with superior service quality tend to be more profitable because they
are able to create stronger loyalty among customers (Zeithaml et al, 1996). Therefore analyzing its capacity
as a tool for evaluating loyalty makes sense. In this study, the conceptual framework of loyalty suggested by
Gommans is considered.
In principle the e-SERVQUAL model can be considered of greater validity than other models available.
This is due to the fact that whereas other models focus on measuring the quality of the website, e-
SERVQUAL considers all the processes that take part in delivering the finished product.
All the attributes of the e-SERVQUAL model are related to one of those considered for the conceptual
framework of loyalty developed by Gommans. Thus, the efficiency and reliability attributes measure, to a
certain extent, the technological attributes of the model. Delivery, responsibility, compensation and contact,
customer service and privacy are attributes related to security and reputation. However, directly related
factors with loyalty, such as those of valuable proposition and branded construction, do not seem to be
reflected directly in any of the relations of the model.
The characteristics of the WebQual model make it less advisable to be used in measuring the level of
loyalty offered by a website. Two obstacles could be considered: the factors corresponding to the usability
category appear in different attributes in Gommans' model (especially those related to technology and
customer service) and the factors included in the quality information category are defined in an excessively
imprecise way (appropriate information, relevant information...). Nevertheless, an adaptation of the factors
included in the different categories allows the WebQual model to be used in this type of evaluations. This
model considers several factors that are ignored by the e-SERVQUAL model and that they are directly
related with loyalty, such as personalization or community construction.
The categories employed by the model of Zhang also convert it insufficient to measure the level of loyalty
which a website is capable of offering. These categories are mostly related to the design, usability and
interaction of the customer with the website. As a result only the technological attributes and those of
customer service can be measured using this instrument (as well as confidence and security, using the privacy
category). Categories employed by this model, such as credibility, impartiality or enjoyment of Internet
surfing can be considered necessary but not sufficient conditions for securing the goal of loyalty.
Finally, e-SEQUAL model is characterized by the definition of factors in accordance with obstacles found
by the customer in his experience on the website, before, during and after the purchase. In addition, as has
been mentioned in reference to other models, the solution for these obstacles can be necessary, but not
sufficient conditions for obtaining the degree of loyalty desired. However, the open character of this model,
in which the different factors are designed for every problem encountered, permits it to be used for the
purpose of measuring loyalty, choosing those factors that are more related with the aim of fidelity. It has to
be considered that it is the newest of the analyzed models, and therefore still lacks adequate development.
Table 1 shows the intensity of presence of each one of models on Gommans framework. For each driver
three categories are distinguished: high (most of the factors of the driver are considered by the model), low

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(just a few factors of the driver are considered by the model) and none (the driver is not present in the
model). No driver is applicable for e-SEQUAL model for the exposed reasons.
Table 2. Presence of the service quality models within the e-loyalty conceptual framework
Loyalty driver/Model e-SERVQUAL model WebQual model Website quality model e-SEQUAL model
Website & Technology High High High N/a

Customer Service High Low None N/a

Trust & Security Low Low Low N/a

Value Proposition None Low None N/a

Brand Building None Low None N/a

5. CONCLUSION
The present analysis leads to the following three important conclusions:
• None of the analyzed models evaluate the entirety of related attributes with loyalty, according to the
conceptual model chosen (the conceptual framework developed for Gommans).
• The e-SERVQUAL model seems the most complete of those analyzed for measuring this variable,
although it does not include specific factors directly related with loyalty, such as personalization or
brand building.
• The analyzed models are still in their initial stage of development. It may be possible to include
future adaptations of these models in testing e-loyalty.
In any case, these conclusions are conditioned by the absence of a consensus regarding which factors are
decisive for loyalty, and for the lack of a framework of reference that can be generally accepted and
conveniently tested.

REFERENCES
Allagui, A. and Temessek, A., 2004. Testing an E-Loyalty Conceptual Framework. In Journal of E-Business, Vol. 4, No.
1.
Barnes, S.J. and Vidgen, R.T., 2001. An Evaluation of Cyber-Bookshops: The WebQual Method. In International
Journal of E-Commerce, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp 253-265.
Dawson, L.H. et al, 2003. E-SEQUAL: Evaluating (B2C) E-Commerce Environments across the Service Encounter.
Presented in Workshop 6. Exploring the Total Customer Experience: Usability Evaluations of (B2C) E-Commerce
Environments, Interact 2003, Zurich, Switzerland.
Gommans, M. et al, 2001. From Brand Loyalty to E-Loyalty: A Conceptual Framework. In Journal of Economic and
Social Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp 43-58.
Luarn, P. and Lin, H.H., 2003. A Customer Loyalty Model for E-Service Context. In Journal of Electronic Commerce
Research, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp 156-167.
Parasuraman, A. et al, 1985. A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Future Research. In Journal
of Marketing, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp 43-50.
Zeithaml V.A. et al, 1996. The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality. In Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp
31-46.
Zeithaml V.A. et al, 2002. Service Quality Delivery through Websites: A Critical Review of Extant Knowledge. In
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp 362-376.
Zhang, P. and von Dran, G.M., 2002. User Expectations and Rankings of Quality Factors in Different Website Domains.
In International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp 9-33.

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