Article Category: Research Paper
Published Online: Jun 22, 2018
Page range: 78 - 104
Received: Mar 03, 2018
Accepted: May 28, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2018-0010
Keywords
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
Purpose
This research attempts to examine the relationship between B2C interaction and customer loyalty in Business-to-Customer (B2C) context from a new perspective of the interactive tool.
Design/methodology/approach
The scale for B2C interactive tools is of seven dimensions: efficiency, security, fulfillment, mobility, community, cultivation, and customization. A model reflecting the influences of these attributes on customer loyalty is developed and empirically examined based on data collected from 265 B2C customers.
Findings
Results reveal that the fulfillment, mobility, community, and customization of B2C interactive tools can enhance customer loyalty directly and significantly. Efficiency and security, serving as the premise for possible purchase behavior, facilitate fulfillment. In addition, cultivation promotes the formation of customization, which directly strengthens customer loyalty.
Research limitations
Models considering individual-level indicators and combined with classic loyalty mechanisms in B2C context may lead to a deeper understanding of the tested effects of interaction on customer loyalty.
Practical implications
To strengthen B2C interaction and further cultivate loyal customers, making interactive tools more fundamental, flexible, and personalized is critical for B2C enterprises.
Originality/value
This study proposes a new perspective from interactive tools when measuring the relationship between B2C interaction and customer loyalty, and offers a useful theoretical lens and reasonable explanations for investigating customer loyalty in B2C e-commerce context.