Website Usage: Bottled Water Company in Nigeria Case Dissertation

Introduction

Background to the Study

The growth and popularity of the Internet and the Word Wide Web in the marketing of products and services have been broadly documented in the existing literature (Law & Bai 2008). Increasingly, organisations the world over are reaching out to customers via available web-based platforms, with ever greater percentages of products and services being offered online to reach consumers who are more conscious and eager to exercise their choice than ever before (Xu & Cenfetelli 2013; Kandulapati & Bellamkonda 2014).

A strand of existing literature demonstrates that organisations continue to benefit from the use of web-based platforms in terms of remaining competitive in the cost and the overall service they offer compared to their competitors (Kumar & Petersen 2006), achieving high level of efficiency and integration via their business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) business processes (Santouridis, Trivellas & Tsimonis 2012), reducing inventory, operational and transactional costs (Roy, Lasser & Butoney 2014), facilitating customers to have superior access to the information they need in an expedited manner (Usher 2009), and improving the quality of services provided compared to traditional service delivery paradigms (Sun, Teh & Chiu 2012; Jingjun, Benbasat & Cenfetelli 2013).

According to Kuo et al (2005, p. 311), “academic research has acknowledged a number of criteria that influence customers in evaluating websites in general, and in particular, service quality delivery through websites.” However, in spite of the increasing importance of web-oriented service quality delivery in the contemporary business arena (Sun et al 2012), surprisingly very few studies have focused attention on analysing how web presence has improved the customer service of organisations doing business in the developing world (Apulu, Latham & Moreton 2011; Ayo, Adewoye & Oni 2011). Indeed, Lysonski and Durvasula (2013) argue that the researchers’ comprehension of African customers is insignificant when compared to the oversupply of marketing and electronic commerce studies done in established markets such as the United States, Asia or Europe. Consequently, the present study is founded on the need to investigate how the development and use of a website have affected the customer service of a bottled water company based in Nigeria.

In the service quality context, consecutive research studies have demonstrated that the imperative for organisations to provide excellent service quality is not abrogated by moving from an offline to an online channel; rather, organisations wishing to use web-based platforms to reach their customers must discover, often through trial and error, the ways and means to provide consistently high quality services using this new technological medium (Liang & Chen 2009; Sun et al 2012; Xu & Cenfetelli 2013). Jingjun et al (2013) posit that it is of immense significance for senior managers of entities with web presences to first understand how customers perceive and evaluate online services if they are to profitably deliver superior service quality to customers and gain from the competitive advantages related to this concept.

Traditionally, customer service is defined as a subjective and personalised construct that mirrors customers’ potential entertainment and emotional worth (Cappel & Huang 2007; Green & Pearson 2009), or a customer’s subjective evaluation of the quality of an interaction with a vendor, including the degree to which such interaction is able to meet unique service needs (Xu & Cenfetelli 2013). In web-based contexts, however, service quality is defined “as the extent to which services based on web technology facilitate effective and efficient online communications, purchases and delivery of product/services” (Kuo et al 2005, p. 311).

The criteria that have been used in most scholarly research studies to evaluate web-based service quality, according to existing scholarship, include ease of use, assurance, convenience, empathy, information quality, fun, reliability, responsiveness, and accessibility (Kuo et al 2005, Cappel & Huang 2007; Kandulapati & Bellamkonda 2014). Law and Bai (2008) argue that web-based customer service quality is mostly enhanced by website functionality and usability. According to these authors, functionality evaluates the level to which a website provides adequate information about the products/services being promoted, while usability generally refers to the interface design or degree of ease with which users can use a website. The present study utilises five of these constructs (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility, and information quality) to establish how the development and use of a website improve customer service in a bottled water company based in Nigeria.

The Study Context

Nigeria represents a valid case for study, as most of the existing literature on the effectiveness of websites in improving customer service has traditionally relied on organisations and markets based in the United States, Europe and Asia (Lysonski & Durvasula 2013). Available documentation demonstrates that Nigeria has an internet penetration rate of 38% (Global Internet Report 2014) and the growth of Internet usage has continued to increase, recording over 90% growth rate between 2000 and 2008 (Ayo et al 2011); however, the pace and rate of online shopping has been substantially slow due to a number of challenges including “cultural barriers, infrastructure challenge, security concern, perceived risk, and inadequate regulatory framework” (Abiodun 2013, p. 22). Ayo et al (2011, p. 5109) further acknowledge that, “while businesses in Nigeria are reported to have online access with opportunity for e-commercial activities, customers in the country however access business websites only to source for information but make purchases the traditional way.” The low pace of online shopping continues unabated in spite of the fact that Nigeria represents one of the biggest countries in Africa and one of the country that has benefited from the wealth of oil, hence considerably increasing the standard of living and prosperity of some of its citizens who can now enjoy the trappings of contemporary consumer life (Apulu et al 2011; Lysonski & Durvasula 2013).

Nigeria has a presence of a sizeable number of online shopping sites that continue to service the needs of thousands of customers every week through web-based interactions (Ayo et al 2011). Some of the sites, according to these authors, include “www.234world.com, Xtaples.net, www.booksng.com, [and] www.orderbay.com” (p. 5110). As postulated by these authors, some of the sites make the transaction process so easy for customers, particularly in allowing them to submit payments after making purchases, fast shipping of products, and also receiving money online to pay for purchases made. However, in spite of all these benefits, many Nigerians treat web-based shopping with deep scepticism and do not believe that e-commerce transactions could be successfully conducted (Apulu et al 2011; Ayo et al 2011). With the mounting rate of internet usage in the country, it is generally felt that most local customers have the capacity to join millions of other customers around the world to enjoy the new and exhilarating online shopping experience (Abiodun 2013). However, assessing the customer service attributes of websites is absolutely important in ensuring that businesses develop the potential to tap into the web-based shopping market.

Problem Discussion

A strand of existing research demonstrates that the adoption and use of e-commerce has evolved from rudimentary simple Web site construction applications to more refined customer service and personalisation models, with capacity to not only emphasise competitive advantages and profit considerations for organisations (Karagozoglu & Lindell 2004; Maditinos & Theodoridis 2010), but also to successfully meet the needs and expectations of target customers (Huang 2008; Usher 2009; Sun et al 2012; Klaus 2013). In recent years, online-based businesses throughout the world have increasingly shifted their efforts toward improving customer service by developing strategies to deal with challenges such as as technical failures and inadequacies, transaction delays, product delivery delays and unresponsiveness, among others (Sindhuja & Dastidar 2009; Voorveld, Niejens & Smit 2009; Klaus 2013). Owing to the fact that the high costs associated with acquiring new e-customers can lead to unprofitable customer relationships for a period not less than three years (Ribbink et al 2004), organisations must ensure their websites have the capacity to deliver optimal customer service if they are to succeed in tapping into the immense web-based market (Cappel & Huang 2007; Flavian, Gurrea & Orus 2009; Fang et al 2012; Daryanto et al 2013).

A foremost corollary in most of the available web-based customer service studies (e.g., Ribbink et al 2004; Kuo et al 2005; Sindhuja & Dastidar 2009; Sun et al 2012; Roy et al 2014) is that, to be able to develop the capacity to deliver superior service quality, managers of organisations with web presences must first understand how e-quality dimensions (e.g., ease of use, convenience, empathy, information quality, fun, reliability, responsiveness, and accessibility, usability, functionality) influence customers’ perceptions and evaluations of online services. However, even though the e-quality dimensions have attracted multidisciplinary studies and miltisectoral responses particularly in the developed markets of the USA, Europe and Asia (Lysonski & Durvasula 2013), information on specific e-quality dimensions that may improve customer service in the developing world remains scanty (Apulu et al 2011; Ayo et al 2011).

More still, extremely few studies have assessed the effectiveness of websites in improving customer service in developing countries in spite of the realisation that most of these countries are faced with unique challenges that include cultural barriers, infrastructural challenges, security concerns, perceived risks, and inadequate regulatory frameworks (Apulu et al 2011; Ayo et al 2011Abiodun 2013). Based on this, studies conducted in developed markets alone are not adequate to guide informed web site design and development in the context of developing markets. Proper understanding of e-quality dimensions that are critical in improving customer service in an African context is indispensable for organisations if they are to tap into the huge web-based potential existing in the developing markets, hence this study seeks to fill this gap.

Aim and Objectives of the Study

The main aim of the present study is to investigate how the development and use of a website improve customer service in a bottled water company based in Nigeria. Owing to the fact that the adoption of online shopping in Nigeria has been slow due to factors such as cultural barriers, lack of interest and/or deep scepticism among consumers, security concerns and perceived risks (Apulu et al 2011; Ayo et al 2011; Abiodun 2013), the investigation focuses on five e-quality dimensions namely ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility and information quality. The main objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To expand the knowledge base on how the development and use of a website improve the company’s customer service experience. Online-based businesses throughout the world are increasingly shifting their efforts toward enhancing customer service experience, particularly after the realisation that “providing superb online experiences will positively influence the customers’ online buying behaviour” (Klaus 2013, p. 445). Consequently, it is important to understand how a website improves customer service particularly in dealing with transaction delays, product delivery delays and unresponsiveness (Sindhuja & Dastidar 2009; Voorveld et al 2009; Klaus 2013).
2. To investigate how the five e-quality dimensions (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility and information quality) enhance customer service attributes in the company. Available literature demonstrates that companies investing in web technologies are looking forward to realising the benefits of these investments; however, this would not be possible without first understanding the dimensions that contribute to website visitors’ having a satisfying, high quality online experience with the visited sites (Ribbink et al 2004; Kuo et al 2005), hence the justification.
3. To develop recommendations on the best practices in using websites to improve customer service in the context of developing markets. A number of studies (e.g., Karagozoglu & Lindell 2004; Maditinos & Theodoridis 2010; Sun et al 2012; Klaus 2013) have developed what they consider to be the best practices on how companies can leverage websites to achieve competitive advantages and at the same time enhance the quality of their customer service; however, only a few of these studies have focused attention to companies with web presences in developing markets (Apulu et al 2011; Ayo et al 2011), hence the justification.

Key Research Questions

The present study is guided by the following research questions:

1. How does the development and use of a website improve the company’s customer service experience?
2. In what ways do the five e-quality constructs (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility, and information quality) enhance customer service in the company?
3. What are the recommended best practices in using websites to improve customer service in Nigeria?

Significance of Study

The present study adds to the emerging literature on how Web technologies can be successfully used to improve customer service experience for companies operating in developing markets such as Nigeria. In particular, the present study advances literature on how companies in Nigeria can leverage the use of websites in gaining competitive advantages and improving the quality of customer service. Such knowledge is beneficial to practitioners and business owners looking to harness the immense benefits associated with the use of websites to necessitate online transactions as well as facilitate business processes and customer satisfaction. Additionally, findings of the present study immensely facilitate the efficiency of business entities and managers in not only actively seeking ways to enhance customer service experience through web-based technologies, but also in drawing more customers and preserving the already existing customer base. Lastly, the present study avails practical implications for managers struggling with the issue of deploying a website in developing markets with the view to improving customer service.

Dissertation Structure

The remainder of the dissertation is structured as follows: Chapter two reviews and synthesises relevant literature on web site usability models, online shopping experience, traditional and web-based customer service quality, available e-quality constructs, customer reactions to the e-quality constructs, as well as barriers associated with web-based transactions in the Nigerian context. Chapter three discusses and develops the research methodology of the underlying study, including the research philosophy, research approach, population and sampling, methods of data collection, ethical considerations, as well as research limitations, while chapter four presents the findings and discusses them in reference to the objectives and key research questions of the study, and chapter six provides some recommendations.

Literature Review

Introduction

This chapter reviews and synthesises existing literature on web-based customer service quality. Specifically, the chapter reviews literature on two website usability models underpinning the concept of web-based customer service (Palmer instrument and Agarwal and Venkatesh instrument), the online shopping experience, traditional and web-based customer quality, web-based customer service quality dimensions, customer reactions to the web-based service quality dimensions, and barriers associated with web-based transactions in Nigeria.

Website Usability Models Underpinning Web-based Customer Service

Palmer Instrument

Palmer (2002) developed a measure of website usability that not only demonstrates substantial relationships between website design and performance, but continues to be used widely by scholars interested in evaluating how organisations can use websites to improve the quality of customer service. The five constructs in the Palmer’s instrument include download delay, navigability, content, interactivity, and responsiveness. According to Palmer (2002), download delay denotes the preliminary request or application for access to the web page and then each ensuing request or application for changing pages in the site, while navigability denotes the sequencing of pages, well organised layout, as well as the consistency or reliability of navigation protocols.

As indicated by Green and Pearson (2009, p. 20), “content includes the amount and variety of content as well as the use of text, graphics, and multimedia.” Lastly, Interactivity implies the capability to customise the website’s appearance, texture, content as well as it capacity to provide interaction with the other users, while website responsiveness implies the presence of feedback to users as well as the availability of answers from the site administrators (Palmer 2002). Consequently, the model is effective in demonstrating how the five e-quality dimensions (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility, and convenience) enhance customer service in the company (Green & Pearson 2009; Santouridis et al 2012).

Agarwal and Venkatesh Instrument

Agarwal and Venkatesh (2002) made use of categories and subcategories comprising the Microsoft Usability Guidelines (MUG) to develop this particular model that not only operationalises website usability in IS research, but also serves to provide benchmarks that could effectively be used in assessing how websites are able to influence the quality of customer service and other attributes. This model, which is thought to outperform the broadly used technology acceptance model (TAM) particularly in terms of richness and variance explained (Green & Pearson 2009), contains five dimensions namely “ease of use, made-for-the-medium, emotion, content, and promotion” (Green & Pearson 2011, p. 182).

Available e-commerce scholarship demonstrates that the ease of use dimension denotes the cognitive effort necessary in using a website, while made-for-the-medium relates to tailoring or customising a website to fit a particular user’s needs and expectations (Agarwal & Venkatesh 2002). According to Green and Pearson (2009, p. 20), “emotion taps into effective reactions invoked by a website.” Additionally, the content dimension evaluates the informational and transactional capabilities of a website, while the promotion dimension illuminates the extent to which the website is promoted on the Internet and other media (Agarwal & Venkatesh 2002; Green & Pearson 2009). Owing to the model’s good evaluation properties, robustness and generalisibility (Green & Pearson 2009), it can be effectively used to demonstrate how the mentioned e-quality dimensions improve customer service in the selected company.

Understanding the Online Shopping Experience

Online shopping behaviour is defined in the literature as the process of making purchases of products or services using the Internet (Santouridis et al 2012), or the customer’s psychological state in terms of making purchases over the Internet (Karagozoglu & Lindell 2004; Flavian et al 2009). Available literature demonstrates that “online shopping, especially in retail environment, enables consumers to visit electronic stores (e-stores), locate and select products, make payment through credit cards, debit cards money transfer, or cash on delivery and get delivery at their door steps” (Abiodun 2013, p. 24). Wang and Chen (2009, p. 971) note that “the rapid growth of online transactions reflects the compelling advantages that they offer over conventional brick-and-mortar stores, including greater flexibility, enhanced market outreach, lower cost structure, faster transactions, broader product lines, and greater convenience.” Drawing from Abiodun (2013), it is clear that online shopping provides a unique advantage in that customers have the capacity to compare prices of various products before making a purchase by merely visiting e-stores of two or more competing electronic retailers (e-tailers) or accessing online price comparison websites at the comfort of their chairs.

It is evident that the online shopping experience provides certain benefits that cannot be provided by brick-and-mortar (physical) retail stores, with available literature documenting that “e-stores offer online shoppers more diverse product choices, individualised (customised) products, service information, shopping convenience, 24/7 shopping, time saving, competitive pricing and privacy” (Abiodun 2013, p. 24). The mentioned advantages have led to a remarkable growth in the number of people who use websites to shop for products and services particularly in the developed economies and also in emerging economies with high literacy levels, satisfactory technological infrastructure, higher levels of income, as well as high internet penetration rates (Voorveld et al 2009; Luo, Ba & Zhang 2012). However, owing to the fact that customer loyalty and service quality are harder to achieve in the online context than in the offline one due to the low costs involved in searching for alternatives, it is imperative for organisations to develop websites with high information as well as system and service quality so that customers may have greater willingness to sustain, deepen and broaden their relationship with the websites (Liang & Chen 2009).

Traditional-Oriented Service Quality

The concept of service quality came into the limelight in the early 1980s, when scholars and practitioners recognised that product quality alone could not qualify organisations in the attainment of competitive advantage (Kandulapati & Bellamkonda 2014). Xu and Cenfetelli (2013) acknowledge that, although the study of service quality was initiated by marketing scholars and practitioners three decades ago, it has nevertheless become a time-honoured and exceedingly appropriate concept within both traditional and electronic customer service contexts; however, unlike product quality which can be measured objectively using such indicators as durability and number of defects, the definition of service quality is elusive and may be difficult to measure owing to the fact that service characteristics are intangible, perishable, simultaneously produced and consumed, and heterogeneous (Kuo et al 2005; Kandulapati & Bellamkonda 2014). Generally, however, service quality has been defined as follows: a subjective and personal construct that reflects customers’ potential entertainment and emotional worth (Cappel & Huang, 2007; Green & Pearson 2009); a customer’s global, subjective assessment of the quality of an interaction with a vendor, including the degree to which service needs have been met (Xu & Cenfetelli 2013); or as an experience which is generally felt by customers when an organisation supplies goods and services to a specification that satisfies the customers (Lin & Sun 2009; Kandulapati & Bellamkonda 2014).

Parasuraman et al (1985, 1988, 1991), comprehensively cited in Kandulapati and Bellamkonda (2014, p. 180), are credited with proposing and developing the SERVQUAL model used to assess an organisation’s service quality attributes using five dimensions, namely “tangibles, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy.” In their study, Xu and Cenfetelli (2013, p. 781) argue that the most widely applied service quality framework is SERVQUAL, “which articulates customer’s salient perceptions about a vendor’s service reliability, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness, as well as the tangible aspects of the vendor’s infrastructure and/or appearance.” In brief, tangibles represent the physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel, while reliability implies the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately (Huang 2008; Klaus 2013). Following Kuo et al (2005), responsiveness is defined as the enthusiasm to assist customers and also to provide timely service; assurance is defined as the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence; and empathy as the caring, individualised attention provided by an organisation to its customers.

Web-Oriented Service Quality

Kuo et al (2005, p. 311) define web-oriented service quality “as the extent to which services based on web technology facilitate effective and efficient online communications, purchases and delivery of product/services.” Klaus (2013) acknowledges that, although exploring the association between the customers’ perceptions of the online and the overall quality of service has been the traditional focus of online academic studies, focus is now increasingly shifting towards exploring the online customer experience due to the evolving nature of e-commerce websites as they become more dynamic and interactive. Drawing from Wang and Chen (2009, p. 974), it is clear that “online service providers should pay attention to the pre- and post-purchase customer interface activities designed to facilitate both immediate transactions and long-term customer relationships, like ensuring there is no breakdown in service and promptly resolving any problems that happen to customers.” On their part, Karagozoglu and Lindell (2004, p. 291) acknowledge that the main aspects of web-based customer service include “providing thorough product information, implementing a question and answer database, designing an easily navigated website, making it simple and secure to order online, warranty information, and clearly stated return policies and procedures.” As posited by Klaus (2013), the provision of superb online experiences not only positively influences the customers’ online buying behaviour but also reinforces the perspective that a website will act competently, openly and fairly.

Luo et al (2012) note that customer service in web-based contexts can be measured using constructs such as customer support, order tracking, on-time delivery, product availability, as well as product met expectation. Parasuraman et al (2005), cited in Kandulapati and Bellamkonda (2014, p. 180), acknowledge that web-oriented service quality broadly encompasses “all phases of a customer’s interactions with a Web site: the extent to which a Web site facilitates efficient and effective shopping, purchasing, and delivery.” These authors report on a comprehensive instrument developed by Parasuraman et al (2005) known as E-S-QUAL, which measures electronic service quality using four main dimensions, namely efficiency, fulfilment, system availability and privacy. According to Kuo et al (2005, p. 311), “academic research has acknowledged a number of criteria that influence customers in evaluating websites in general, and in particular, service quality delivery through websites.” Some of the measurement variables discussed in their study as influencing service quality through websites include convenience, empathy, ease of use, information quality, fun, reliability, responsiveness, and accessibility. The selected e-quality dimensions are discussed at length below.

Web-based Customer Service Quality Dimensions

Ease of Use and/or Usability

Owing to the fact that a website is often perceived as an interactive learning environment between customers and business, it is imperative to enhance customers’ capacities to learn how to browse and to find pertinent information on the web without much effort (Law & Bai 2008; Daryanto et al 2013). Indeed, Ganapathy, Ranganathan and Sankaranarayanan (2004, p. 93) note that “websites that make it too cumbersome for customers to search and purchase products online will never enjoy a competitive edge.” Kuo et al (2005, p. 312) acknowledge that, “in the interactive web environment, consumers have control of the information flow and have to perform two tasks: one is to understand the information and the second is to manage the information flow.” Consequently, drawing from the technology acceptance model (TAM) which hypothesises that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are the primary determinants of system use, it becomes clear that a site’s ease of use (through elements such as search functions, download speed, overall organisation) increases customers’ capability to learn how to browse and to find relevant information on the web (Ganapathy et al 2004; Kuo et al 2005; Kassim & Abdullah 2010).

Many researchers continue to apply the ease of use concept in the same breadth as the web usability concept, which is defined in the literature “as making the design simple enough so that customers, who by nature tend to be goal-driven, can accomplish their task as quickly and painlessly as possible” (Sindhuja & Dastidar 2009, p. 56). Klaus (2013, p. 447) differentiates the two by acknowledging that “usability relates to attributes that enable online customers to feel comfortable using the web site, such as perceptions of site speed, ease-of-use, and hyperlink design.” Drawing from the literature, it is clear that the usability dimension is an important one in web-based customer satisfaction literature as it influences online consumers’ experience, facilitates the likelihood of electronic exchange, and informs customers’ intention to use the web site again and whether they will recommend it to others (Huang 2008). Nielsen (2003), cited in Sindhuja and Dastidar (2009, p. 56), acknowledges that a usable website interface is “one which is easy to learn, efficient to use, easy to remember, pleasant to use, and which causes few errors.”

Information Quality

In discussing this dimension, Kuo et al (2005) acknowledge that online customers not only perceive that they can more fully scrutinise options than they can offline, but they want to serve themselves and will serve themselves by locating relevant information on the web so long as it is comparatively easy to find. Kumar and Petersen (2006), Ganapathy et al (2004) and Flavian et al (2009) argue that an overriding benefit for organisations in using websites is that customers now have better access to the information they need in an expedited manner, not only improving the overall service to the customer but also allowing organisations to reduce their operational costs by reducing the number of customer service representatives and support personnel.

According to Kuo et al (2005) and Wang and Chen (2009), the variables employed to assess information quality on a website include “accuracy, ease of understanding, timeliness, relevance or usefulness, flexible information presentation, completeness, customised information presentation, price information, product/service differentiation, complete product/service description, and whether the information provided is up to date.” Additionally, information contained in the website should also be availed to customers through the appropriate use of graphics and pictures with the view to enhancing appeal and quality (Kumar & Petersen 2006; Huang & Cappel 2012). A website with high information quality, according to Wang and Chen (2009, p. 974), “can help a business to deliver customised, innovative and value-added products/services to their customers.”

To improve customer satisfaction, the information available on the website must have the capacity to guarantee product presence (Fang et al 2012). According to Klaus (2013, p. 447), “product presence represents the requirement to assess products in virtual environments and subsequently stimulate purchase intentions, such as image interactivity, and additional access to content.” Consequently, as suggested by Ribbink et al (2004) and Santouridis et al (2012), e-commerce web sites need to provide customers with options to interact and manipulate visual images of a product not only to perceive the presence of that particular product, but also to enhance online customer service experience and subsequent purchase intentions.

In web-based contexts, information quality is also closely associated with the aspect of social presence, a previously unexplored dimension of online customer service experience that “constitutes attributes reflecting the customer’s virtual interaction with other shoppers through comments, product reviews, and social media linkages” (Klaus 2013, p. 448). As acknowledged by Venkatesh and Ramesh (2006), available customer reviews in various websites not only provide customers with more information regarding a particular product or service but also assist in the sharing of experiences with other individuals using the same product or service, consequently assisting customers to overcome the unfamiliarity and lack of physical presence associated with online interaction. The findings of Klaus (2013, p. 448) study demonstrate that social presence and other related aspects of the information quality dimension “positively impacts important customer service outcomes, such as perceived trust, usefulness, and enjoyment of the interaction.”

Reliability

This construct has been cited as a dominant dimension in traditional-oriented service quality studies and also in web-oriented service quality research. A reliable web site, according to Kuo et al (2005, p. 312), “should ensure correct operations, rapid access, quick error recovery, security, tracking order status, and privacy to enhance users’ confidence.” In the context of electronic commerce, a number of studies have demonstrated that trustworthy, dependable, and reliable characteristics are fundamental in triggering business transactions, as customers should be able to trust the system and its online purchasing and payment capabilities to transact business (Venkatesh & Ramesh 2006). Owing to the fact that factors such as physical distance, lack of personal contact, and anonymity of the internet may discourage customers’ use of online channels due to perceived lack of trust, organisations must ensure the incorporation of uncertainty-reducing elements into the websites, such as domain names, site safety signatures, as well as explicit guarantees and terms of service (Klaus 2013).

Additionally, for websites to be considered as reliable and dependable, they must have the capacity to allow customers to track their online order status (Kumar, Eidem, & Perdomo 2012), and to communicate effectively with customers (Kumar & Petersen 2006). According to Klaus (2013, p. 448), “communication describes attributes reflecting the customer’s perception on how communication reduces the risks associated with e-commerce, such as follow-up and transaction confirmation messages, similar to what traditional service marketing literature describes as reassurance in customers’ perception of service quality.” Communication on delivery acknowledgement via email, according to Ribbink et al (2004), is a fundamentally important attribute in facilitating web-based customer satisfaction and enhancing online customer experience as it minimises the uncertainty associated with making online purchases. A number of researchers argue that contemporary websites must have the capacity to create context familiarity or an online customer service environment that is comparable to that of making purchases in traditional stores (Usher 2009; Klaus 2013), as well as transaction cost savings driven by factors such as fast page loading, clear presentation, intuitive navigation, and safe and stable transaction processes (Wang & Chen 2009; Fang et al 2012).

Responsiveness

Kuo et al (2005, p. 313) acknowledge that “customer loyalty increases substantially when online buyers learn that customer service representatives were available and were willing and able to resolve the situation quickly.” A strand of existing literature demonstrates that web responsiveness can be used by organisations not only to reinforce service quality but also to increase their competitive advantage by retaining their customer base while attracting more, as most customers are busy and are less likely to switch between companies if they are provided with the information they need in a timely manner (Kumar, Eidem, & Perdomo 2012). E-mail assistance is known to assist in satisfying the need for help online; however, it has faced continuous criticism from customers for being slow and for lacking the capacity to respond to individualised customer requests (Maditinos & Theodoridis 2010; Fang et al 2012). As postulated by Kuo et al (2005, p. 313), “online buyers largely do not expect or desire high touch service unless they have questions or problems with customer service, in which case they expect relatively speedy answers responsive to their individual problems.”

Accessibility

In today’s crowded and competitive cyberspace, web-oriented customers have plenty of alternatives for information due to lack of network boundaries and the ever diminishing geographic distance between websites (Maditinos & Theodoridis 2010; Kumar, Eidem, & Perdomo 2012). Consequently, a website has to provide round-the-clock services to its customers and also afford sufficient download speeds, as contemporary website users have many opportunities for instantaneous access from many other potential sources (Ribbink et al 2004). Kuo et al (2005) posit that the two major differences between web-oriented and traditional service quality are identified in terms of efficiency and activeness. While websites can concurrently provide a close connection between customers and organisations and among the customers themselves, traditional customer service platforms are viewed as inefficient in terms of labour requirements and time demands. Additionally, unlike the unreceptive traditional customers, web-based customers are dynamic players who experience enhanced control in the online setting based on the fact that web-oriented customer service provides information on the internet for customers who in turn commence self-service shopping (Kuo et al 2005; Lee & Chen 2011).

Customer Reactions to Service Quality Dimensions

Xu and Cenfetelli (2013, p. 781) note that “numerous research studies have relied on SERVQUAL for predicting customer reactions and responses, such as customer loyalty, increased sales, a willingness to pay a price premium, customer value, and customer satisfaction.” This section briefly assesses literature on three of these customer reactions, namely customer loyalty, customer value, and customer satisfaction.

Customer Loyalty

Wang and Chen (2009, p. 972) acknowledge that “the high quality of service attributes has been shown to generate customer loyalty that is reflected as customer retention, word-of-mouth recommendation, premium payment and cross-buying.” On their part, Reichheld and Schefter (2000, p. 106) are of the opinion that “acquiring customers on the internet is enormously expensive, and unless the customers stick around and make lots of repeat purchases over the years, profits will remain elusive.” Indeed, to gain the loyalty of customers, organisations with web presences must first gain customer trust owing to the fact that web-based business is conducted at a distance and risks and uncertainties are exaggerated (Ribbink et al 2004; Kassim & Abdullah 2010). Customer loyalty is not won with technology; on the contrary, it is won through the delivery of a consistently superior customer experience guaranteed by a multiplicity of e-quality dimensions such as ease of use, responsiveness, reliability and responsiveness (Reichheld & Schefter 2000; Lin & Sun 2009; Oni 2013).

Customer value

Customer value has been defined in the literature as the customer’s general evaluation of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given (Kandulapati and Bellamkonda 2014), or the difference between customer efforts to obtain value and the overall benefits accrued from the service or product (Kassim & Abdullah 2010). In his “superior customer value” preposition, Weinstein (2012), cited comprehensively in McFarlane (2013, p. 64), argues that “customers want more than just simple value; they want businesses to overwhelm and surprise them by going above and beyond the ordinary to meet their needs and wants.” As postulated by Kandulapati and Bellamkonda (2014), customer value preposition is of immense significance in comprehending customers’ purchasing intentions, enhancing customer satisfaction and organisational performance, developing brand loyalty, and ensuring the sustenance of overall competitive advantage.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is defined in the literature as an overall affective response to a perceived discrepancy between prior expectations and perceived performance after consumption (Kandulapati and Bellamkonda 2014), or a comparative judgement that considers the qualities versus the costs and efforts obtainable through making a purchase (Wang & Chen 2009). In web-based contexts, customer satisfaction has been defined “as the emotional state developed from a relationship that [results] from customer interactions with an online service provider over time” (Wang & Chen 2009, p. 975). According to these authors, the literature contains two universal dimensions of customer satisfaction namely transaction-specific satisfaction (avails specific indicative information concerning a particular product or service encounter) and cumulative satisfaction (results from a sequence of transactions or service encounters and has capacity to show an organisation’s prior, present and future performance).

Owing to the fact that service attributes are often perceived as cognition-oriented while customer satisfaction is often perceived as an affective and evaluative response, and that cognitive thought processes trigger affective responses, it therefore follows that customer assessments of service attributes affect their satisfaction attitude (Wang & Chen 2009). In web-based contexts, customer satisfaction is often described in terms of users’ perception of the ‘pleasantness’ of the website, which in turn influences their perceived ease-of-use, motivation for learning how to use the site, confidence in the reliability of the information content, future use intentions as well as recommendations to other users (Sindhuja & Dastidar 2009). This view is reinforced by Green and Pearson (2011), who found that perceived ease of use, usefulness, convenience of site use, simplicity of site design, perceived risk, trust of website, design credibility, content, interactivity, navigability, responsiveness and download delay are all important in forming consumer attitudes and satisfaction with the electronic commerce channel.

Barriers Associated with Web-based Transactions in Nigeria

A sizeable number of research streams have focussed attention on identifying the barriers associated with online transactions, with a number of researchers (e.g., Adewoye & Oni 2011; Abiodun 2013) arguing that the low adoption of web-based purchases by Nigerian consumers may be attributed to a unique set of challenges that include cultural obstructions, infrastructural challenges, fraud and security concerns, perceived risk, and inadequate regulatory framework. In cultural barriers, many Nigerians are not yet comfortable with the idea of buying goods and services using credit cards and many retailers are still accustomed to the culture of selling through physical stores. In infrastructural challenges, it is evident that many regions in Nigeria still lack the hardware or equipment, software applications, internet capability, and other services associated with online shopping, leading to operational deficiencies and minimal adoption capability (Adewoye & Oni 2011; Apulu et al 2011; Abiodun 2013).

In fraud and security concerns, Abiodun (2013) notes that computer hacking, phishing, online credit card fraud, and lack of quality verification procedures for products and services offered online, are some of the major reasons hindering the growth of web-based shopping in Nigeria. In perceived risk, the author suggests that most Nigerians are still averse to web-based shopping due to risks and uncertainties associated with disclosing their credit card information and paying for goods or services without verifying their quality. Lastly, in terms of regulatory frameworks, Nigeria is yet to amend its laws to accommodate the rights, obligations and responsibilities that must be present for web-based transactions to flourish, including how online customers can seek redress in a competent court of law in the event of wrongdoing on the side of online retailers (Apulu et al 2011; Abiodun 2013).

Conceptual Framework

This study uses five e-quality dimensions (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility, and information quality) to investigate how the development and use of a website improve the customer service of a bottled water company based in Nigeria. Consequently, as demonstrated in the figure below, the five e-quality dimensions form the dependent variables of the study while customer service forms the independent variable.

Methodology

Introduction

The present study utilises five e-quality constructs (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility and assurance) to investigate how the development and use of a website improve customer service in a bottled water company based in Nigeria; consequently, this chapter discusses and develops the research methodology of the underlying study, including the research philosophy, research approach, research strategy, population and sampling techniques, data collection methods, ethical considerations, reliability and validity, as well as methods of data analysis.

Research Philosophy

This study uses a positivist research approach in its endeavour to discover how the development and use of a website improve customer service in the selected company. Owing to the fact that the positivist research philosophy is predicated on the assumption that the foremost purpose of research is scientific explanation, scholars who use the positivist paradigm perceive social science as an organised method for combining deductive logic with accurate empirical observations of individual behaviour in order to discover and confirm a set of probabilistic causal edicts that can then be applied to the research context to predict general patterns of human behaviour (Neumann 2003). Available methodology scholarship reports that the knowledge that arises through a positivist framework is predicated upon careful observation and measurement of the objective reality that exists “out there” in the world, thus investigators are obliged to develop legitimate numeric measures of observation in studying the main issues of interest (Bryman 2008). In the present study, the positivist research paradigm allows the researcher to not only collect specific data on how the use of a website improves the customer service of the selected company, but also to empirically analyse the collected data using available statistical means with the view to thoroughly observe and measure the variables of interest.

Research Approach

The present study uses a quantitative research approach, which is defined in the literature “as a type of empirical research into a social phenomenon or human problem, testing a theory consisting of variables which are measured with numbers and analysed with statistics in order to determine if the theory explains or predicts phenomena of interest” (Yilmaz 2013, p. 312). The quantitative research approach provides the researcher with the capacity to investigate how the use of a website has improved customer service by examining the relationships between the presence of the five e-quality dimensions and customer service experiences; however, it is suggested in the literature that such variables of interest must be assessed using rigid rules of logic and measurement, truth, absolute principles and prediction to coincide with the positivist philosophical lens (Lee & Hubona 2009). Consequently, the quantitative research approach permits the researcher to effectively respond to the underlying research questions by empirically investigating how the stated e-quality dimensions function to ensure the website is able to influence customer service (Creswell 2009), hence the justification.

Research Strategy

It is important to mention that the present study employs a cross-sectional (survey) research design owing to the fact that study participants were contacted at a fixed point in time and standardised survey questionnaires administered to collect important information needed in providing responses to the key research questions (Balnaves & Caputi 2001). Creswell (2014, p. 13) posits that a survey research strategy provides “a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of the population.” As such, the cross-sectional research strategy applied in this study not only enables the researcher to provide responses to the key research questions by studying a sample at a particular point in time, but also to investigate how the variables of interest influence customer service levels. The use of a cross-sectional research approach is also informed by its ease of application in the research context and its capacity to be descriptive; however, the strategy is unable to show causality and also lacks clarity in demonstrating temporal bias (Balnaves & Caputi 2001).

Population & Sampling

The population for the present study includes customers and managers of the water bottling company based in Nigeria. In sampling, the purposive sampling technique is used to select 20 managers drawn from administration, customer service and sales and marketing departments of the company, while simple random sampling technique is used to come up with a representative sample of 150 customers. It is important to note that sampling for customers and managers has been done online through the assistance of the company’s senior management leaders upon the request of the researcher. The justification for using purposive sampling technique in the selection of managers to take part in the study is hinged on the technique’s capacity to allow the researcher gain an in-depth and holistic understanding of all the issues of how a website can be used to improve customer service, as a purposive sample is selected based on the respondents’ expansive knowledge of the issues that interests the researcher (Sekaran 2006; Vogt 2007). The justification for using simple random sampling technique in the selection of customers is informed by the minimal costs involved particularly when using online protocols, ease of administration, and capacity to develop a representative sample (Creswell 2014).

Data Collection

This study draws on empirical data collected by means of two sets of standardised questionnaire instruments administered to sampled managers and customers of the bottled water company based in Nigeria. As posited by Harrell and Bradley (2009, p. 6), questionnaires are “fixed sets of questions that can be administered by paper and pencil, as a Web form, or by an interviewer who follows a strict script.” It is important to mention that two standardised questionnaire in web forms have been utilised in this study to collect data from the sampled participants. One set of the questionnaire containing 12 items is administered to the managers, while the other set containing a similar number of items is administered to customers.

The two questionnaires contain numerical questions, YES and NO questions, open-ended questions, and Lickert-type items requiring participants to identify their level of agreement with a number of statements purposively designed with the view to providing responses to the key research questions of the study. As acknowledged by Gelo, Braakman and Benetka (2008, p. 268), the use of the Lickert-type scale is consistent with the quantitative research design that “requires the reduction of phenomena to numerical values in order to carry out statistical analysis”, hence the justification. Other justifications for the use of web-based self-administered questionnaires include the minimal costs involved and the capacity to provide greater anonymity for participants due to the absence of the interviewer during the data collection process; however, they have often received criticism due to low response rates, incapacity to capture complex and ambiguous questions, as well as incapacity to get deeper insights from participants because many of the questions are closed-ended (Potter 2003; Harrell & Bradley 2009; Marsden & Wright 2010).

Validity and Reliability

Available methodological literature defines validity as the degree to which a particular measure is effective in measuring what it is supposed to (Bryman & Bell 2008), or more specifically the extent to which a measure accurately represents the concept it claims to measure (Punch 2009). On its part, reliability implies the consistency of the measurement used by the investigator in the data collection process, or more specifically the degree to which a test or procedure generates comparable outcomes under constant conditions on all occasions (Creswell 2014). The researcher has taken the initiative to ensure the validity of the study findings by ensuring the relevance and representativeness of the items contained in the questionnaire sets by conducting a pilot study, comparing the questionnaire sets to other similar validated measures of customer satisfaction in web-based contexts, and establishing the acceptable operational measures for the theoretical concepts and variables under investigation by successfully linking the questionnaire items and measures to the study’s objectives and key research questions (Bryman & Bell 2008; Punch 2009). Similarly, the researcher has ensured reliability of the study findings by standardising the two sets of questionnaires used in data collection, documenting changes or progress regularly, and ensuring the stability of the Lickert-type scale used in the questionnaires (Bryman 2008).

Ethical Considerations

Available literature demonstrates that ethical issues arise in any research process involving human participants as the researcher is, by principle, expected to “ensure that no harm occurs to [the] voluntary participants and that all participants have made the decision to assist after receiving full information as to what is required, if any, potential consequences may arise from such participation” (Polonsky & Waller 2010, p. 69). To ensure that the main ethical concerns have been successfully dealt with, the researcher has

1. sought for written permission from the senior management of the water bottling company prior to engaging the company’s managers and customers in data collection,
2. ensured that any participation in the research study is voluntary and that adequate information has been provided to the sampled participants to enable them make an informed decision on whether to participate or not,
3. ensured participants have full knowledge of what they are being requested to do and are fully aware of any potentially adverse consequences tied to participation in the research process,
4. guaranteed individual confidentiality and anonymity of respondents, and
5. assisted in the debriefing of respondents and sharing with them the main findings of the study via email (Gregory 2003; Polonsky & Waller 2010).

Data Analysis

In the present study, dully completed and returned questionnaires have been cleaned, coded, and checked for consistency, before being entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18 for analysis and interpretation of data using descriptive (univariate) statistics. In the present study, descriptive statistics are used to describe the basic aspects and characteristics of the data from the sampled managers and customers of the company by providing simple summaries about the sample and the measures with the assistance of frequency distributions as well as measures of central tendency (mean) and dispersion (standard deviation) (Connolly 2007; Treiman 2008). The results of the analysis are presented using tables, normal text, as well as bar graphs.

Results & Discussion

Statement of Results

Response and Demographic Information

The present study sampled 20 managers and 150 customers with the view to investigating how the development and use of a website improve customer service in a bottled water company based in Nigeria. Out of the 20 questionnaires dispatched to the managers, 12 have been returned, representing a response rate of 60%. Similarly, 64 questionnaires have been returned out of the 150 administered to customers, representing 42.7% response rate. 8 (66.7%) of the managers and 38 (59.3%) of the customers are males, while the rest are females. The mean age of managers is 36.7 years, while that of customers is 27.2 years. The mean age of customers indicate that younger people are more interested in using technology to make online purchases or seek for information than older adults. While all managers report having a university degree or above, a substantial number of customers (86%) report having completed secondary education, implying that most customers have adequate knowledge on web-based technologies.

Customer Responses

Overall, 44 (68.8%) of the customers say that use of the website has improved their shopping experience, 36 (56.3%) agree that the website has influenced their online buying behaviour, while 51 (79.7%) acknowledge that the website has saved them money and/or time while making purchases. An analysis of the reasons provided by customers is demonstrated in the following table.

Table 1. How Website has Affected Customer Service Attributes.

A major component of the present study entails exploring how the five e-quality dimensions (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility, responsiveness, accessibility, and information quality) improve customer service in the company. In ease of use, most customers strongly agree with the fact that the website is “easy to learn, efficient to use, easy to remember, pleasant to use, and causes few errors.” They also strongly agree with the assertions that the website enhances customer experience due to the fast rate at which the information is being displayed, and that they can recommend the website to other customers. The rest of the results are contained in the following table.

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Ease-of-Use Dimension.

In reliability, the study findings demonstrate that most customers strongly agree with the statements that the website ensures quick error recovery when making purchases (mean = 4.821), the website is effective in tracking order status including sending follow-up and transaction confirmation messages (mean = 4.745), and that the website has the capacity to communicate effectively with customers (mean = 4.5675). However, more needs to be done as seven in every ten customers (73.4%) say they neither agree nor disagree with the statement that the company’s website ensures privacy and trust in its online purchasing and payment capabilities through the use of site signatures, explicit guarantees and terms of service (mean = 3.045). Similarly, six in every ten customers (61.8%) disagree with the assertion that the website provides adequate context familiarity (mean = 2.1575).

In responsiveness, most customers agree with the statements that customer service representatives are available and do have the capacity to respond to customer issues and complaints within the shortest time possible (mean = 4.358), and that the online customer service representatives have the capacity to deliver the desired feedback requested by customers (mean = 4.055). However, most of the customers disagree with the statement that the web-based email assistance has adequate capacity to respond to individualised customer issues and complaints (mean = 2.326). In accessibility, many of the customers strongly agree with the statement that the website provide 24/7 customer service (mean = 4.834), and that that the website provides sufficient download speeds (mean = 4.585). However, many customers disagree with the assertion that the website enhances their self control in the online shopping environment (mean = 2.135), and that payment details for online purchases are easily accessible (mean = 2.246).

Lastly, in information quality, eight in every ten customers (84.4%) strongly agree with the statement that the information provided in the website is relevant and up-to-date (mean = 4.824), while two-thirds (68.8%) agree with the statement that the information provided on the website is accurate, easy to understand, and timely (mean = 4.014). However, more needs to be done to enhance customer service, as 52 (81.3%) of the customers disagreed with the statement that website has complete description of available products (mean = 2.3452). Customers also disagreed with the website’s capacity to use graphics to enhance information appeal and its capacity to provide customised information, as demonstrated in the table below.

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for Information Quality Dimension.

Manager Responses

All the managers agree that the development and use of the website is part of the company’s business strategy, and that the company evaluate the effectiveness of the website; however, most of the managers believe the company measures the effectiveness of the website in the core areas of customer satisfaction (78.2%) and sales (70.9%). The rest of the distribution is demonstrated in the figure below.

The figure above demonstrates that the company is yet to fully adopt the website in measuring order accuracy and process enhancement. This trend needs to change, as both order accuracy and process enhancement are key attributes in enhancing the reliability, responsiveness, and ease of use of the website.

All the managers surveyed in the study agree that the development and use of the website has substantially improved customer service. However, they differ in the areas they think the website has been able to improve customer service. In a multiple response question, 10 (83.3%) of the managers say the website has improved communications between the company and the customers, while 8 (66.7%) suggest that the website has substantially improved customer satisfaction, customer value preposition, as well as customer loyalty. Over half of the managers (55.5%) suggest that the website has facilitated customer service by enhancing response times. The rest of the distribution is demonstrated in the figure below.

The figure above shows that the development and use of the website has enhanced many customer service attributes, including customer-company communications, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer value, as well as response times for customer orders, complaints, and other issues; however, the company needs to do more to ensure that the increased use of the website is able to enhance customer follow-up and facilitate order processing.

Eight in every ten managers (82.8%) believe that most of the customers served by the company approve the use of the website in making their online purchases. Additionally, most of the managers believe that there have been dramatic changes in the way the website has

1. increased value to the company’s customer service offerings,
2. enhanced order entry accuracy among customers,
3. enhanced the quality of services provided by the company, and
4. significantly reduced the incidences of missing orders.

The rest of the results are shown in the following table.

Table 4. Descriptive Statistics of how Website has Improved Customer Service.

The table above shows how the website has been able to dramatically improve customer service attributes in multiple areas; however, a major area of concern is that most of the managers surveyed have noted no changes in the number of calls by customers and also in the order updating status. This observation can be partly explained by the cultural orientation of most customers in the African context, who go ahead to call to enquire about the status of their orders or to request for more information due to the perceived shortfalls related to online communication.

Discussion

Improving customer service

This research set out to investigate how the development and use of a website improve customer service in a bottled water company based in Nigeria. The findings of the study demonstrate that the development and use of a website enhance the customer service experience by improving the customers’ shopping experience, influencing their online buying behaviour, and saving them money and/or time while making purchases. It has been found that, through the use of the website, customers are able to check for more alternatives before making purchases, personalise and enjoy their shopping experiences, keep up with socio-cultural and technological trends, gain psychological satisfaction, compare different prices at the click of the mouse, and save on transportation costs. Klaus (2013) and Cummins et al (2014) found similar results in the developed world context, implying that the customer service attributes improved by the presence of websites are universal.

To reinforce the findings of previous studies, the present study demonstrates that the use of the website has improved customer service in key areas of company-customer communications, customer satisfaction, customer value preposition, customer loyalty, and response times. Indeed, these findings are consistent with Wang and Chen’s (2009, p. 972) assertion that the high quality of service attributes in a website “has been shown to generate customer loyalty that is reflected as customer retention, word-of-mouth recommendation, premium payment and cross-buying.” Similarly, Kandulapati and Bellamkonda (2014) have acknowledged that customer value is of immense significance in understanding customers’ purchasing intentions, enhancing customer satisfaction and organisational performance, developing brand loyalty, and ensuring the sustenance of overall competitive advantage.

Lastly, it has been found that the development and use of a website in the bottled water company has increased the value of the company’s customer service offerings, enhanced order entry accuracy among customers, facilitated the quality of services provided by the company, and substantially reduced missing order incidences. These findings can be said to cut across different contextual and environmental situations, as they have also been cited comprehensively in studies such as those of Karagozoglu and Lindell (2004), Sindhuja and Dastidar (2009), and Green and Pearson (2011).

However, from the findings, it is evident that more needs to be done to ensure that the increasing use of the website leverages customer satisfaction by enhancing customer follow-up, facilitating order processing periods, substantially reducing the number of calls made by customers, as well as enhancing order updating status. It is also clear that the bottled water company is yet to fully adopt the website in measuring order accuracy and process enhancement, despite a strand of existing literature (e.g., Huang 2008, Fang et al 2012; Abiodun 2013; Daryanto et al 2013) demonstrating that websites have the capacity to guarantee these important customer service attributes.

E-Quality Dimensions

This study also set out to investigate how the five e-quality dimensions (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility, information quality) enhance the customer service attributes in the company. In the ease of ease dimension, it is evident that most customers use the website because it is not only simple to learn, proficient to use, effortless to remember and enjoyable to use, but also because it causes few errors and demonstrates faster download speeds. These findings exemplify those by Sindhuja and Dastidar (2009). The ease of use concept and its underlying attributes (e.g., navigability, download delay, and interactivity) have been well documented in the Palmer (2002) model and also in Agarwal and Venkatesh (2002) model. These findings are consistent with Law and Bai’s (2008) assertion that websites must have the capacity to enhance customers’ capacities to learn how to browse and find important information on the web without expending much effort.

In the reliability dimension, the study has found that most customers use the website due to its capacity to quickly recover from errors, its effectiveness in tracking order status including sending follow-up and transaction confirmation messages, as well as its capacity to communicate effectively with customers. These findings are consistent with those of Kuo et al (2005, p. 2005), who acknowledge that a reliable website “should ensure correct operations, rapid access, quick error recovery, security, tracking order status, and privacy to enhance users’ confidence.” However, it is evident from the study findings that more needs to be done to enhance the privacy and trust of customers through the use of site signatures, explicit guarantees and terms of service. The privacy and trust concepts may be explained in terms of security concerns and perceived risks, whereby most Nigerians are still averse to web-based shopping due to risks and uncertainties associated with disclosing their credit card information and paying for goods or services without verifying their quality (Abiodun 2013).

In the responsiveness dimension, it is evident that customer service attributes are enhanced due to several factors, including the availability of customer care representatives and capacity of the personnel to respond to customer complaints and issues within a short period, as well as the capacity of the customer care representatives to deliver the desired feedback. These findings are well collaborated in the literature by Kuo et al (2005, p. 313), who note that “customer loyalty increases substantially when online buyers learn that customer service representatives were available and were willing and able to resolve the situation quickly. However, it is clear from the findings that the company needs to do more to develop the capacity to effectively respond to individualised customer issues and complaints.

In the accessibility dimension, findings of the study demonstrate that customer service attributes are enhanced by the fact that the website is able to provide 24/7 customer service, and also by its capacity to provide faster download speeds. According to Ribbink et al (2004), a website must have the capacity not only to provide 24/7 services to its customers but also to afford faster download speeds, as customers have many opportunities for instant access from many other potential sources. In spite of this, the findings of the present study underscore the need for the company to develop strategies intended to not only enhance users’ self control in the online environment, but also ensure payment information for online purchases is easily accessible online.

Lastly, in the information quality dimension, the study findings demonstrate that customer service is substantially enhanced by the website’s capacity to provide relevant and up-to-date information and also to ensure that the information provided is accurate, easy to understand, and timely. As acknowledged by Kuo et al (2005) and Wang and Chen (2009) in their respective studies, the variables employed to assess information quality on a website include “accuracy, ease of understanding, timeliness, relevance or usefulness, flexible information presentation, completeness, customised information presentation, price information, product/service differentiation, complete product/service description, and whether the information provided is up to date.” However, it is evident from the study findings that the company needs to do more to ensure the website is able to

1. provide a complete description of available products,
2. provide customised or individualised information, and
3. use graphics and pictures with the view to enhancing information appeal.

Study Limitations

The low response rate experienced in the data collection process could work to limit the generalisability of the study findings, as available literature demonstrates that quantitative research should utilise a large and representative sample (Newman 2003; Creswell 2014). Time constraints have also worked against the researcher, as there was no opportunity to follow on the participants who failed to submit the duly filled questionnaires on time. It is largely believed that more time could have enabled the researcher to engage a larger sample, thus ensuring that the study findings are readily generalised to a larger population.

Future Research Areas

In the future, it would be appropriate to investigate how age and gender variables influence the website’s capacity to improve customer service in the context of developing markets. It would also be appropriate to continue with this baseline research and investigate ways by which the continued use of this website is able to attract and retain customers.

Conclusion

This study has succeeded in demonstrating how the development and use of a website improve customer service in a bottled water company based in Nigeria. An important point to underscore is that many of the customer service attributes enhanced by the presence and use of the company’s website have been found in other research studies done in Western contexts, implying that these attributes may be similar. Additionally, the present study has succeeded in showing how the selected e-quality dimensions (ease of use, reliability, responsiveness, accessibility, and information quality) function to improve customer service in the contexts of developing markets. It is also the conclusion of the researcher that many of these dimensions operate in the same way as is the case in the developed markets. However, security, risk and trust issues are still of paramount importance in the Nigerian context, as most customers are increasingly averse to web-based shopping owing to the risks and uncertainties associated with things such as disclosing credit card information to strangers and paying for products and services without physically verifying their quality.

Recommendations

A major component of the present study relates to the development of the recommended best practices that could be used by this organisation and other companies to improve customer service in Nigeria. Drawing from an in-depth analysis of the study findings, the recommendations for best practices are as follows:

Firstly, the company should enlist the services of professionals in its IT and marketing departments to develop strategies that will ensure the website is able to leverage customer service by enhancing customer follow-up, facilitating order processing periods, considerably reducing the number of calls made by customers, and enhancing order updating status.

Secondly, the senior management of the company should liaise with other professionals in the firm in a bid to enhance the privacy and trust of online customers by, for example, incorporating elements such as site signatures, explicit guarantees and terms of service into the website. Thirdly, the company needs to develop strategies and processes aimed at ensuring that the website is able to respond to individualised customer issues and complaints with the view to enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Fourthly, the company should consider making investments in web-based programs that will not only enhance customers’ self control in the online environment, but also ensure that payment information for online purchases is easily accessible online. Lastly, the company needs to make considerable investments in developing programs and processes that will not only provide a complete description of available products and customised or individualised information, but also increase the use of graphics and pictures in the website with the view to enhancing information appeal.

Consideration for Organisational/Professional Issues

Overall, it is expected that the company avails USD 100,000 to develop the strategies, programs and processes that will ensure the optimal implementation of the recommendations stated above. The company may use its IT and marketing professionals to implement the recommendations; however, it may source for external experts in website design and development to ensure all recommendations are successfully incorporated into the website for optimal improvement of customer service attributes. No potential resistance is anticipated as the recommendations are intended to improve the website based on the mentioned best practices.

List of References

Abiodun, AS 2013, ‘Challenges militating against adoption of online shopping in retail industry in Nigeria’, Journal of Marketing Management, 1(1), 23-33.

Agarwal, R & Venkatesh, V 2002, ‘Assessing a firm’s web presence: A Heuristic evaluation procedure for the measurement of usability’, Information Systems Research, vol. 13 no. 2, pp. 168-186.

Apulu, I, Latham, A & Moreton, R 2011, ‘Factors affecting the effective utilisation and adoption of sophisticated ICT solutions: Case studies of SMEs in Lagos, Nigeria. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 13 no. 2, pp. 125-143.

Ayo, CK, Adewoye, JO & Oni, A 2011, ‘Business-to-consumer e-commerce in Nigeria: Prospects and challenges’ African Journal of Business Management, vol. 5 no 13, pp. 5109-5117.

Balnaves, M & Caputi, P 2001, Introduction to quantitative research methods: An investigative approach, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.

Bryman, A 2008, Social research methods, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Bryman, A & Bell, C 2008, Business research methods, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Cappel, JJ & Huang, Z 2007, ‘A usability analysis of company websites’, Journal of Computer Information Systems, vol. 12 no. 2, pp. 111-123.

Creswell, JW 2009, Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, 3rd edn, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.

Creswell, JW 2014, Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches, 6th edn, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.

Cummins, S, Peltier, J, Schibrowsky, JA & Nill, A 2014, ‘Consumer behaviour in the online context’ Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, vol. 8 no. 3, pp. 1-50.

Daryanto, A, Khan, H, Matlay, H & Chakrabarti, R 2013, ‘Adoption of country-specific business websites: The case of UK small businesses entering the Chinese Market’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 20 no. 3, pp. 650-660.

Fang, X, Hu, PJH, Chau, M, Hu, HF, Yang, Z & Sheng, ORL 2012, ‘A data-driven approach to measure website navigability’, Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 29 no. 2, pp. 173-212.

Flavian, C, Gurrea, R & Orus, C 2009, Web design: A key factor for the website success’, Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 11 no. 2, pp. 168-184.

Ganapathy, S, Ranganathon, GC & Sankaranarayanan, B 2004, ‘Visualising strategies and tools for enhancing customer relationship management’, Communications of the ACM, vol. 47 no. 11, pp. 93-99.

Gelo, O, Braakmann, D & Benetka, G 2008, ‘Quantitative and qualitative research: Beyond the debate’, Integrative Psychological & Behavioural Science, vol. 42 no. 3, pp. 266-290.

Global Internet Report. 2014. Web.

Green, DT & Pearson, JM 2009, ‘The examination of two website usability instruments for use in B2C e-commerce organisations’, Journal of Computer Information Systems, vol. 49 no. 4, pp. 19-32.

Green, DT & Pearson, M 2011, ‘Integrating website usability with the electronic commerce acceptance model’, Behaviours & Information Technology, vol. 30 no. 2, pp. 181-199.

Gregory, I 2003, Ethics in research, Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

Harrell, MC & Bradley, MA 2009, Data collection methods: Semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Web.

Huang, E 2008, ‘Use and gratification in e-consumers’, Internet Research, vol. 18 no. 4, pp. 405-426.

Huang, Z & Cappel, JJ 2012, ‘A comparative study of website usability practices of Fortune 500 versus INC. 500 companies’, Information Systems Management, vol. 29 no. 2, pp. 112-122.

Jingjun, X, Benbasat, I & Cenfetelli, RT 2013, ‘Integrating service quality with system and information quality: An empirical test in the e-service context’, MIS Quarterly, vol. 37 no. 3, pp. 777-794.

Kandulapati, S & Bellamkonda, RS 2014, ‘E-service quality: A study of online shoppers in India’, American Journal of Business, vol. 29 no. 2, pp. 178-188.

Kassim, N & Abdullah, NA 2010, ‘The effects of perceived service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in e-commerce settings: A cross cultural analysis’, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 22 no. 3, pp. 351-371.

Klaus, P 2013, ‘The case of Amazon.com: Towards a conceptual framework of online customer service experience (OCSE) using the emerging consensus technique’, Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 27 no. 6, pp. 443-457.

Karagozoglu, N & Lindell, M 2004, ‘Electronic commerce strategy, operations, and performance in small and medium-sized enterprises’, Journal of Small Business & Enterprise Development, vol. 11 no. 3, pp. 290-301.

Kumar, S & Petersen, P 2006, ‘Impact of e-commerce in lowering operational costs and raising customer satisfaction’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 17 no. 3, pp. 283-302.

Kumar, S, Eidem, J & Perdomo, DN 2012, ‘Clash of the e-commerce titans: A new paradigm for consumer purchase process involvement’, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 61 no. 7, pp. 805-830.

Kuo, T, Lu, IY, Huang, CH & Wu, GC 2005, ‘measuring users’ perceived portal service quality: An empirical study’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, vol. 16 no. 3, pp. 309-320.

Law, R & Bai, B 2008, ‘How do the preferences of online buyers and browsers differ on the design and content of travel websites? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 20 no. 4, pp. 388-400.

Lee, AS & Hubona, GS 2009, ‘A scientific basis for rigour in information systems research’, MIS Quarterly, vol. 33 no. 2, pp. 237-262.

Lee, Y & Chen, ANK 2011, ‘Usability and psychological ownership of a virtual world’, Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 28 no. 3, pp. 269-307.

Liang, CJ & Chen, HJ 2009, ‘A study of the impacts of website quality on customer relationship performance’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, vol. 20 no 9, pp. 971-988.

Lin, GTR & Sun, CC 2009, ‘Factors influencing satisfaction and loyalty in online shopping: An integrated model’, Online Information Review, vol. 33 no. 3, pp. 458-475.

Luo, J, Ba, S & Zhang, H 2012, ‘The effectiveness of online shopping characteristics and well-designed websites on satisfaction’, MIS Quarterly, vol. 36 no. 4, pp. 1131-1144.

Lysonski, S & Durvasula, S 2013, ‘Nigeria in transition: Acculturation to global consumer culture’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 30 no. 6, pp. 493-508.

Maditinos, DI & Theodoridis, K 2010, ‘Satisfaction determinants in the Greek online shopping context’, Information Technology & People, vol. 23 no. 4, pp. 312-329.

Marsden, PV & Wright, JD 2010, Handbook for survey research, Emerald Group Publishing, Bingley, BD.

McFarlane, DA 2013, ‘The strategic importance of customer value’, Atlantic Marketing Journal, vol. 2 no. 1, pp. 62-75.

Newman, WL 2003, Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches, Allyn and Bacon, Boston.

Oni, AO 2013, ‘Digital divide – A challenge to the real estate practice in Nigeria’, Property Management, vol. 31 no. 1, pp. 22-38.

Palmer, JW 2002, ‘Website usability, design, and performance metrics’, Information Systems Research, vol. 13 no. 2, pp. 151-167.

Polonsky, MJ & Waller, DS 2010, Designing and managing a research project: A business student’s guide, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.

Potter, J 2003, ‘Studying the standardised survey as interaction’, Qualitative Research, vol. 3 no. 2, pp. 269-278.

Punch, K 2009, Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches, Sage Publications, London.

Reichheld, FF & Schefter, P 2000, ‘E-loyalty: Your secret weapon on the web’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 78 no. 4, pp. 105-113.

Ribbink, D, van Liel, ACR, Liljander, V & Streukens, S 2004, ‘Comfort your online customer: Quality, trust and loyalty on the internet’, Managing Service Quality, vol. 14 no. 6, pp. 446-456.

Roy, SK, Lassar, WM & Butoney, G 2014, ‘The mediating impact of stickiness and loyalty on word-of-mouth promotion of retail websites: A consumer perspective’, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 48 no. 9/10, pp. 1-35.

Santouridis, I, Trivellas, P & Tsimonis, G 2012, ‘Using E-S-QUAL to measure internet service quality of e-commerce web sites in Greece’, International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, vol. 4 no. 1, pp. 86-98.

Sekaran, U 2006, Research methods for business: A skill building approach, 4th edn, Wiley-India, New Delhi.

Sindhuja, PN & Dastidar, SG 2009, ‘Impact of the factors influencing website usability on user satisfaction’, IUP Journal of Management Research, vol. 8 no. 12, pp. 54-66.

Sun, H, Teh, PL & Chiu, A 2012, ‘An empirical study on the websites service quality of Hong Kong small businesses’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, vol. 23 no. 8, pp. 931-937.

Treiman, DJ 2008, Quantitative data analysis: Doing social research to test ideas, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.

Usher, W 2009, ‘General practitioners’ understanding pertaining to reliability, interactive and usability components associated with health websites’, Behaviour & Information Technology, vol. 28 no. 1, pp. 39-44.

Venkatesh, V 2000, ‘Determinants of perceived ease of use: integrating control, intrinsic motivation, and emotion into the technology acceptance model’, Information Systems Research, vol. 11 no. 4, pp. 342-365.

Venkatesh, V & Ramesh, V 2006, ‘Web and wireless site usability on user satisfaction: Understanding differences and modelling use’, MIS Quarterly, vol. 30 no. 1, pp. 181-206.

Vogt, WP 2007, Quantitative research methods for professionals, Allyn and Bacon, Boston.

Voorveld, HAM, Niejens, PC & Smit, EG 2009, ‘Consumers’ responses to brand websites: An interdisciplinary review’, Internet Research, vol. 29 no. 5, pp. 535-565.

Yilmaz, K 2013, ‘Comparison of quantitative and qualitative research traditions: Epistemological, theoretical, and methodological differences’, European Journal of Education, vol. 8 no. 2, pp. 311-325.