Does pickup service quality explain buy online pickup in-store service user's citizenship behavior? Moderating role of product categories and gender

Abstract

Purpose

Building on stimulus organism response theory, the current study examines the influence of pickup service quality of buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) service on the BOPIS users' satisfaction, trust and commitment, subsequently leading to customer citizenship behavior (CCB). It examines the proposed relationships against boundary conditions, product categories and gender.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional investigation. It was conducted using data collected from 401 Indian omnichannel shoppers using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Partial Least Squares-Multi-group analysis (PLS-MGA).

Findings

The results indicate that pickup service quality in BOPIS positively impacts all the dimensions of relationship quality of the BOPIS users. Satisfaction and commitment directly affect CCB. However, trust impacts CCB indirectly through commitment. The moderating effect of the product category purchased and gender on specified relationships was tested. Results revealed the impact of pickup service quality on BOPIS users' trust and commitment differed across product categories. More impact was seen among users who purchased shopping and specialty goods. The study also found that trust-driven citizenship behavior was seen more among female BOPIS users when compared to males.

Research limitations/implications

The study is carried out on the Indian population, where omnichannel retailing is still nascent.

Originality/value

This study addresses the gap to investigate the value co-creation behavior (CCB) in the omnichannel retail context among BOPIS users. This study is the first to show that in-store pickup service quality in BOPIS might affect customer citizenship behavior through relationship quality dimensions, assessed against boundary conditions such as the product category and BOPIS user gender.

Citation

Natarajan, T., Ramanan, D.V. and Jayapal, J. (2023), "Does pickup service quality explain buy online pickup in-store service user's citizenship behavior? Moderating role of product categories and gender", The TQM Journal, Vol. 35 No. 8, pp. 2547-2571. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-10-2022-0297