Title: Information quality, online community and trust: a study of antecedents to shoppers' website loyalty

Authors: Michael Chih-Hung Wang, Edward Shih-Tse Wang, Julian Ming-Sung Cheng, Alex Fei-Long Chen

Addresses: Business Administration Department, National Central University, No. 300, Chung-Ta Road, Chung-Li City, Taoyuan County, 32001, Taiwan. ' Department of Marketing and Distribution Management, Ching Yun University, No. 229, Chien, Hisn Road, Chung-Li City, Taoyuan County, Taiwan. ' Business Administration Department, National Central University, No. 300, Chung-Ta Road, Chung-Li City, Taoyuan County, 32001, Taiwan. ' Business Administration Department, National Central University, No. 300, Chung-Ta Road, Chung-Li City, Taoyuan County, 32001, Taiwan

Abstract: The internet is changing the way consumers shop for and purchase goods and services, and it has been rapidly adopted globally. Since online shopping is a new phenomenon that has recently experienced rapid growth, research on the formation of consumer loyalty online remains scarce. This investigation of the characteristics of online shopping interactions (for example, online ordering of goods) discusses the effects of information quality, online communities and online consumer trust as factors of online consumer loyalty. An online survey conducted in Taiwan obtained 250 valid responses (online shoppers). Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis indicated an acceptable goodness-of-fit for the proposed model. This study confirmed two antecedents – information quality and online communities via online consumer trust – to increased online loyalty in online shopping websites.

Keywords: information quality; online communities; consumer trust; consumer loyalty; electronic marketing; e-marketing; electronic retailing; e-retailing; Taiwan; structural equation modelling; SEM; e-tailing; internet; online shopping; shopping websites.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2009.021806

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2009 Vol.2 No.3, pp.203 - 219

Published online: 04 Dec 2008 *

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