Consumer satisfaction and word-of-mouth in Electronic Commerce: a possible segmentation method

Abstract

Over the last 10 years the B2C online market and its characteristics – for example the perceived electronic service quality (e-SQ) – has become a relevant research area, not only in the Western countries but also in smaller, less-developed countries. Therefore the first aim of this paper is to provide a description of an analysis into how the dimensions of perceived eSQ relate to satisfaction and WOM intention in Hungary. Secondly, using the results of a PLS-SEM model we show how consumers may be segmented based on their perceptions of quality. According to our research only the dimension of efficiency and responsiveness have a significant positive effect on satisfaction, and the perception of the quality of fulfilment’s also significantly influences word-of-mouth intention. Using the relevant latent variable scores a segmentation method was developed in which four significantly different segments were identified.