Existing e-service quality scales mainly focus on goal-oriented e-shopping behavior excluding hedonic quality aspects. As a consequence, these scales do not fully cover all aspects of consumer's quality evaluation. In order to integrate both utilitarian and hedonic e-service quality elements, we apply a transaction process model to electronic service encounters. Based on this general framework capturing all stages of the electronic service delivery process, we develop a transaction process-based scale for measuring service quality (eTransQual). After conducting exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, we identify five discriminant quality dimensions: functionality/ design, enjoyment, process, reliability and responsiveness. All extracted dimensions of eTransQual show a significant positive impact on important outcome variables like perceived value and customer satisfaction. Moreover, enjoyment is a dominant factor in influencing both relationship duration and repurchase intention as major drivers of customer lifetime value. As a result, we present conceptual and empirical evidence for the need to integrate both utilitarian and hedonic e-service quality elements into one measurement scale

Purpose: Chatbots are increasingly prevalent in the service frontline. Due to advancements in artificial intelligence, chatbots are often indistinguishable from humans. Regarding the question whether firms should disclose their chatbots' nonhuman identity or not, previous studies find negative consumer reactions to chatbot disclosure. By considering the role of trust and service-related context factors, this study explores how negative effects of chatbot disclosure for customer retention can be prevented.Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents two experimental studies that examine the effect of disclosing the nonhuman identity of chatbots on customer retention. While the first study examines the effect of chatbot disclosure for different levels of service criticality, the second study considers different service outcomes. The authors employ analysis of covariance and mediation analysis to test their hypotheses.Findings: Chatbot disclosure has a negative indirect effect on customer retention through mitigated trust for services with high criticality. In cases where a chatbot fails to handle the customer's service issue, disclosing the chatbot identity not only lacks negative impact but even elicits a positive effect on retention.Originality/value: The authors provide evidence that customers will react differently to chatbot disclosure depending on the service frontline setting. They show that chatbot disclosure does not only have undesirable consequences as previous studies suspect but can lead to positive reactions as well. By doing so, the authors draw a more balanced picture on the consequences of chatbot disclosure.

Customer prioritization strategies, which focus a firm's efforts on its most important customers, are expected to improve account profitability. Anecdotal evidence suggests, however, that such strategies may also undermine account profitability by inducing customers to become overly demanding. Building on social exchange theory, this research evaluates these competing perspectives across two field studies and finds that prioritization is best understood as a double-edged sword. Specifically, the results reveal that prioritization efforts initiate both a gratitude-driven process, which enhances sales and profit, and an entitlement-driven process, which increases service costs and reduces profit. Importantly, the findings indicate that prioritization tactics differ in the extent to which they trigger these competing processes and thus in their ability to influence account profitability. Finally, the results also reveal that critical moderators (competitive intensity and prioritization transparency) determine the extent to which the entitlement-driven process undermines the gratitude-driven process. For managers, the findings suggest that both the tactics employed and moderating conditions determine whether prioritization has a positive, negative, or negligible effect on prioritized accounts’ profitability.

Purpose – In the internet economy, the business model of web portals has spread rapidly over the last few years. Despite this, there have been very few scholarly investigations into the services and characteristics that transform a web site into a portal as well as into the dimensions that determine the customer's evaluation of the portal's service quality. Design/methodology/approach – Based on an empirical study in the field of e-banking, the authors validate a measurement model for the construct of web portal quality based on the following dimensions: security and trust, basic services quality, cross-buying services quality, added value, transaction support and responsiveness. Findings – The identified dimensions can reasonably be classified into three service categories: core services, additional services, and problem-solving services. Originality/value – The knowledge of these dimensions as major determinants of consumer's quality perception in the internet provides banks a promising starting point for establishing an effective quality management for their e-businesses.

This study provides deeper insight in the link between service quality and customer satisfaction. The traditional assumption of a linear relationship is challenged by exploring asymmetries and dynamics. The simultaneous influence of service quality and customer experience on satisfaction is examined by means of nonlinear structural equation modeling. Results show that functional-utilitarian quality attributes (availability, efficiency, fulfillment, and privacy) lose their capability to delight customers as the customer relationship matures. In contrast, hedonic quality attributes (design, enjoyment, and image) only exhibit an increasing effect on satisfaction for more experienced customers. These insights are vital for service managers as they help to improve the efficiency of quality investments.