Encounter-based antecedents of e-customer citizenship behaviors

Abstract

Purpose – In the marketing and consumer behavior literature, much remains to be explained about customer citizenship behavior in a highly technological e-retailing context. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a survey of 186 e-shoppers which was conducted grounded in the social exchange theory. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed model. Findings – The results provide support that e-customer familiarity with an e-store and facilitating conditions provided by an e-retailer influence e-customers ' e-satisfaction, e-loyalty, and e-commitment with an e-retailer, all of which exert different effects on three dimensions of e-customer citizenship behavior. Practical implications – The results of this study offer e-retailers a way to stay ahead of their competitors by focusing on online attributes that are difficult to duplicate when it comes to customer relationship such as e-loyalty, e-commitment and e-customer citizenship behavior. Originality/value – This study represents one of the initial attempts to validate a customer citizenship behavior model in an e-retailing setting using e-store familiarization and facilitating conditions as the primary determinants for developing e-store attitudes and behaviors among e-shoppers.