Systematic investigation of the logistics service quality of cross-border e-commerce: a mixed-methods perspective
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
ISSN: 1355-5855
Article publication date: 7 September 2023
Issue publication date: 12 March 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the factors that characterize the logistics service quality (LSQ) of cross-border e-commerce and identifies the different relationships between these factors with respect to customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applied a two-stage mixed-methods design. The first stage (Stage 1) was a qualitative study of 3,000 reviews from the Amazon China e-commerce platform. The second stage (Stage 2) included a quantitative study that analyzed survey data from 590 Chinese cross-border e-commerce customers using the Kano model.
Findings
Stage 1 involved developing a conceptual framework for the LSQ of cross-border e-commerce, including six dimensions: timeliness, safety, reliability, economy, personnel contact quality and information quality. In Stage 2, the study found that only reliability and personnel contact quality indicators are linearly related to customer satisfaction. Timeliness and the safety of packaging greatly contribute to customer satisfaction, but do not cause dissatisfaction when unfulfilled. Economics and information quality indicators, and the safety of goods, are basic requirements that tend to provoke customer dissatisfaction when unmet, but do not increase customer satisfaction when they are met.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to construct a conceptual model of LSQ that applies to cross-border e-commerce and to identify the instrumental nature of various LSQ attributes and their impact on improved customer satisfaction.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors want to thank for the research sponsorship received by the Natural Science Foundation Project of China (No. 72302029); Chongqing Natural Science Foundation Project of China (No. cstc2021jcyibsh0223) and Chongqing Postdoctoral Special Funding Project (No. 2022CQBSHTB2044).
Since acceptance of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliation(s): Jiafu Su is at the International College, Krirk University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Citation
Zhang, Y., Yuan, Y. and Su, J. (2024), "Systematic investigation of the logistics service quality of cross-border e-commerce: a mixed-methods perspective", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 549-564. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-03-2023-0203
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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