The Impact of Website and Offline Equality on Relationship Quality: An Empirical Study on E-Retailing

With the advancement of technology, many aspects of the face-to-face interpersonal dynamics in service encounters between sellers and customers have been replaced by technology-based Web interfaces. E-retailing has the dual nature of Web- based application system and traditional shopping mall. This paper examines the relationship among Website quality, offline quality and relationship quality dimensions (satisfaction, trust and commitment). Based on an empirical study of 223 customer questionnaires, the authors conclude that: (1) the offline quality has a direct positive impact on the satisfaction and trust dimension of relationship quality, and the Website quality has a direct positive impact on the satisfaction dimension of relationship quality; (2) satisfaction dimension has a direct positive impact on both trust and commitment dimensions.