Psychological contract violation and customer intention to reuse online retailers: exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms

Neeru, M; Sahadev, S; Purani, K

Abstract

This study examines the impact of psychological contract violation (PCV) on customer intentions to reuse online retailer websites via the mediating mechanisms of trust and satisfaction. The moderating role of perceived structural assurance (SA) is also investigated. An empirical study conducted among online shoppers confirms the indirect effects of PCV on customers’ intentions to reuse via trust and satisfaction. The findings also support the moderating impact of perceived SA in the network of relationships. The study underscores the importance of SA as a trust-building mechanism for mitigating the deleterious effects of PCV among online customers, although the role of SA in preserving satisfaction is found to be limited. The findings suggest that online retailers may benefit by investing in SA and addressing the negative effects of PCV proactively rather than simply relying on post-failure service recovery mechanisms.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 29, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Mar 17, 2017
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 29, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 17, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Business Research
• Print ISSN: 0148-2963
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 75
• Pages: 17-28
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.01.013
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.01.013
• Related Public URLs: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317300279