The Impact of SERVQUAL on Consumers’ Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Intention to Use Online Food Delivery Services

Abstract

Over the past five years, customer visits to restaurants have stagnated, while online deliveries have grown significantly. Many restaurants have adapted by adopting third-party food delivery services. However, online food delivery services (OFDSs) are underrepresented in the current retail literature. This study aims to address this gap by assessing the impact of service quality on consumers’ satisfaction, loyalty, and intention to use food delivery services. Specifically, we investigated whether customers were more loyal to restaurants or online food delivery services (OFDSs). We recruited 475 respondents who had used online food delivery services. This study analyzed the data using partial least squares (PLS) modeling. Our findings showed that responsiveness did not influence either loyalty or satisfaction. This suggests that marketers and practitioners should focus on the other four SERVQUAL dimensions (tangibles, reliability, assurance, and empathy) to increase consumer loyalty and satisfaction, which can then lead to increased intention to reuse the service (repeat patronage). Our research yields valuable insights for marketers deploying the SERVQUAL dimensions in the context of online food delivery services. This paper makes several theoretical and managerial contributions to the literature on these issues. It provides key insights for marketers regarding the deployment of the SERVQUAL dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) as part of an online food-delivery service.