Failure to deliver? Linking online order fulfillment glitches with future purchase behavior

This study investigates operations failures in online retailing. Specifically, it examines the relationship between an operations glitch (order fulfillment delay) and subsequent shopping behavior for previously loyal customers in an online retailing environment. Using archival data from a moderate-s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of operations management 2011-11, Vol.29 (7), p.692-703
Main Authors: Rao, Shashank, Griffis, Stanley E., Goldsby, Thomas J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archival data
Consumer behavior
Customers
Delay
Electronic commerce
Failure
Fill rate
Future purchase behavior
Glitches
On-line systems
Online
Online retailing
Order fulfillment glitch
Order processing
Retailing
Service failure
Shopping
Studies
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Summary:This study investigates operations failures in online retailing. Specifically, it examines the relationship between an operations glitch (order fulfillment delay) and subsequent shopping behavior for previously loyal customers in an online retailing environment. Using archival data from a moderate-sized online retailer of printed material, this study employs expectancy disconfirmation and distributive justice theories to empirically show that adverse post-glitch reactions are seen in several dimensions of customer shopping behavior – order frequency and order size decrease, while customer anxiety level increases. The study thus demonstrates that online retailers need to deliver on order fulfillment promises, since a failure to live up to these promises can be detrimental. This study is unique in that, unlike previous studies on order fulfillment in online retailing investigating the tie between fulfillment success and future behavior, we examine the repercussions of order fulfillment failures upon future purchase behavior.
ISSN:0272-6963
1873-1317
DOI:10.1016/j.jom.2011.04.001