Multi-stakeholder perspective of courier service quality in B2C e-commerce

Abstract

Under conditions of the rapidly developing e-commerce sector especially during pandemic, ensuring high quality of courier service is essential both for clients, as well as courier companies. However, the literature lacks research linking the perspective of clients and organization in the context of courier service quality. The study aims to identify the factors determining courier service quality, their functions and interrelationships in business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce. The main effect of research is the relational model, which is an original and complex approach to courier service quality considering the multi-stakeholder perspective of an online shop, a courier company and an e-customer. Apart from scientific contribution, the model can be used into managerial practice to formulate the recommendations for e-commerce and courier service sector. The research process involved using the quantitative method (electronic surveys conducted among e-shops and e-clients) and the qualitative method (in-depth-interviews carried out among courier enterprises). Finally, based on the empirical research results, the structural analysis was used to develop the model. As a result, the following groups of factors were distinguished that determine the quality of courier services: crucial, determinant, result, autonomous and external factors.