Understanding how Chinese consumers perceive service quality is essential for e-retailers to realize competition advantages in the Chinese context. This study empirically develops a reliable and valid scale (named E-Tail-SQ) for the measurement of e-retail service quality, specifically in the Chinese context. As the evidence obtained from 100 interviewees and 529 effective questionnaires shows, the E-Tail-SQ scale classifies service quality in the context of e-retailing into four dimensions:environment quality, process quality, outcome quality and recovery quality. And, environment quality is derived from interface access, interface aesthetics, system availability and information usefulness; process quality is derived from safety of transaction, expertise of service and responsibility of website; outcome quality is generated by assurance of quality and fulfillment of website; recovery quality stems from reactivity and compensation of retailers. Moreover, these dimensions proposed in this study have reliable predictability on e-store loyalty via the mediating roles of satisfaction and trust. And, the relative predictability of them on satisfaction follows the order of recovery quality, environment quality, process quality and outcome quality; the relative predictability of them on customer trust follows the order of recovery quality, process quality, outcome quality and environment quality. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications in further understanding and measuring e-retail service quality and developing effective strategies for e-store loyalty in the Chinese context.
