Title: The influence of the servicescape on attitude, perceptions and commitment to e-store brands

Authors: Mercy Mpinganjira

Addresses: Department of Marketing Management, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa

Abstract: For online retail brands that have no offline presence, their website represents the only servicescape through which to engage with customers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of website quality on commitment to e-store brands. Data was collected from 401 online customers of purely online retail brands in South Africa using a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The findings show that website quality exerts significant influence on the perceived usefulness of an e-store's website in terms of its ability to facilitate online shopping, and on attitude towards an e-store brand which in turn influence commitment to e-store brands. The findings provide important managerial insights into the role of the servicescape in influencing commitment to online store brands and can be used by managers to develop on-page branding strategies that enhance e-store website effectiveness. It contributes to theory by presenting an integrated conceptual model that explains commitment to e-store brands through the influence of the servicescape.

Keywords: attitude towards e-store brands; commitment; stimulus organism response model; website quality; South Africa.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2026.155072

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2026 Vol.18 No.1, pp.38 - 58

Received: 11 Feb 2022
Accepted: 08 Oct 2022
Published online: 27 Jul 2026 *

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