E-Retailer Customer Service Quality

What it measures

A second-order reflective measure of the customer service dimension of e-service quality, covering overall service excellence, return-handling quality, and general satisfaction with customer service. Items are intentionally general because the more specific first-order attributes of customer service quality are measured separately. AVE = .82. Evidence of discriminant validity reported.

Response format

5-point Likert (strongly agree to strongly disagree — note: anchors reversed from typical convention)

Scale items

• Overall, the online retailer's customer service is excellent.
• Overall, the quality of the online retailer's return handling is excellent.
• I am generally very satisfied with the customer service.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Part of Blut's (2016) hierarchical e-service quality model. Administered in reference to a specific online retailer from which the participant had made at least one purchase in the past six months. Note that the response anchors are reversed: strongly agree = 1, strongly disagree = 5. Alpha = .93, AVE = .82 (n = 358, US market research panel). Companion scales cover website design and order fulfillment dimensions.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Blut, M. (2016). E-service quality: Development of a hierarchical model. Journal of Retailing, 92(4), 500–517.

Keywords