Abstract:
Purpose – Based on social science theories of customer’s action such as theory of planned behaviour, theory of
reasoned action, and technology acceptance model, this paper adopts belief–attitude–intention model to study
impact of perceived process-belief of different stages of e-service delivery system process (e-SDSP), i.e.,
searching process belief (SPB), agreement process belief (APB), fulfilment process belief (FPB) and after-sales
service process belief (ASPB) on customer attitude and intention towards service providers. The study also
focuses on the mediating effect of customer attitude on the relationship between process-beliefs of different
stages of e-SDSP and their behavioural intention.
Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative method has been employed using data collected from 414
Indian e-retail customers. Structural equation modelling with bootstrap estimation is used to find the mediating
effect of attitude.
Findings – The findings suggest that SPB and ASPB directly impact the customer attitude while APB and
FPB directly impact the customer behavioural intention. The study also finds that customer attitude towards
e-retailers fully mediates the effect of SPB and ASPB on the behavioural intention but there are no mediating
effects for APB and FPB.
Research limitations/implications – The sample used may not be generalizable for India, given its huge
diversity and population. As the sample considers only Indian e-retail customers, this study may lack
generalizability across countries.
Originality/value – In our knowledge, this study is the first step to conceptualize the process-oriented
customer’s perceived belief of different stages of e-SDSP and how these beliefs impact the customers’ attitude
and intention towards the e-retailers. The findings offer insight to managers on how they can create and
cultivate customer happiness and positive behavioural intention by enhanced customer journey throughout
the e-SDSP.