E-servicescape and customer equity based customer loyalty model for digital services

Abstract

Customer loyalty is a significant metric due to its positive effects on market share and business performance. Understanding the antecedents of customer loyalty is vital for companies to gain and maintain competitive advantage. However, the models developed to explain customer loyalty in offline services are not directly applicable to digital services due to differences in their nature. Hence, this study aimed to provide an e-servicescape and customer equity-based customer loyalty model for digital services and test this model in different digital service contexts. The research scope includes online video streaming, online banking, online marketplace, and online grocery services. Four separate questionnaire forms were created depending on the types of digital services and applied to the people representing sample characteristics. A total of 600 valid data were obtained through face-to-face interviews. A structural equation modeling approach was employed to test the model, and the multi-group analyses were performed to evaluate the differences in effects for different digital services contexts. We found that e-servicescape and customer equity are significant determinants of customer loyalty in digital services. The effects of e-servicescape on customer equity drivers and customer equity drivers’ effects on customer loyalty differ according to digital service type.