The effectiveness of customer service policies on intentions in business-to-consumer e-commerce: A psychological contract perspective

Abstract

This study examines the influence of customer service policies on consumer purchase intentions in business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce. Prior research findings proposed that practitioners could utilize these policies to influence their customers' purchase intentions. Based on the psychological contract theory, this study conducted an experiment to examine whether customer service policies could influence consumers' intentions through their perceived psychological contract with the vendors. The experiment found that a customer can form psychological contract beliefs with a vendor based on the vendor's customer service policies, and these psychological contract beliefs may influence purchase intentions through trusting beliefs. These research results should help web vendors realize the importance of customer service policies and improve their website design.