THE MEDIATING ROLE OF ELECTRONIC WORD-OF-MOUTH (E-WOM) AND E-TRUST IN THE EFFECT OF E-SERVICE QUALITY ON E-SATISFACTION IN THE READY-TO-WEAR SECTOR
Abstract: The objective of the current study is to identify the impact of e-service quality and its components on e-satisfaction on e-commerce sites that sell ready-to-wear products online, accounting for the largest share of e-commerce volume in the Turkish economy, and the mediating role of e-WOM and e-trust in this impact. The survey data collected from 755 university students were analyzed using SPSS 31, and mediating effects were tested using the Hayes Process v4.2 macro. The hypothesis that e-service quality has a positive and significant impact on e-satisfaction was accepted, and all three components of e-service quality—process, outcome, and recovery—were found to significantly affect e-satisfaction. Additionally, e-WOM and e-trust were found to have separate and combined mediating roles in the impact of e-service quality on e-satisfaction. The study’s limitations include the fact that the sample comprised only university students, the data were collected within a certain time period, and regional differences were not revealed. However, the present study contributes to the literature since limited research has been conducted on the ready-to-wear sector, it evaluates e-service quality holistically, and develops mediation models in the literature.
Keywords: e-service quality, e-satisfaction, e-WOM, e-trust