OSS-Qual: Holistic Scale to Assess Customer Quality Perception When Buying Secondhand Products in Online Platforms

Abstract

Online secondhand markets have been growing substantially over the last decade and are expected to grow further. In order to effectively promote the growth of online secondhand markets, this paper designs and validates a scale to assess customer perception of the service quality of secondhand products purchased via online platforms. Complementarily, the paper assesses how each of the different dimensions that configure the scale contributes to explaining the fulfillment of customers’ expectations. The scale is defined by 23 items and is arranged in 5 dimensions from the literature on online commerce as well as on the sharing economy. A sample of 200 questionnaires is used for exploratory factor analysis. A second sample of 507 users is used for confirmatory factor analysis. The quality perceived by online customers of secondhand products depends on the quality of the interactions that they have with the website, with the vendor, and with the product. The dimension that contributes the most to customer fulfillment of expectations is product quality. Findings identify the items that contribute the most to quality perception and fulfillment of expectations, facilitating the development of more effective strategies for platform owners and vendors who want to attract and retain customers of secondhand products. Complementarily, these findings are useful to businesses and governments that want to promote a more sustainable economy by reducing consumption of new products and promoting reutilization of existing ones.

Which antecedents contribute most to the loyal behaviour of online second-hand market shoppers?

“…The OSS-Qual scale (Vila-Brunet and Llach, 2020) for the dimensions of perceived value was adopted to test the hypotheses listed in the literature review. An independent exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to determine the set of items for each dimension of the OSS-Qual scale.…”

“…Petnji-Yaya et al (2017) reviewed the conceptual and empirical issues involved in adopting the E-S-QUAL generic scale (antecedent to the OSS-QUAL), noting that the "fulfilment of expectations" mediator is key to understanding the connection between the perceived quality of websites and shoppers' satisfaction. Hence, when online shoppers of second-hand products perceive the quality of the website to be high their fulfilment of expectations is positively affected (Mey et al, 2006;Vila-Brunet and Llach, 2020). Therefore, specifically for online market second-hand products it is hypothesized that: H1.…”

“…The factors that enhance the perception of vendor quality when interacting online are that the vendor appears professional and trustworthy and they respond at the right times (Parasuraman et al, 1988). One factor that enhances the perception of vendor quality in offline interactions is that the vendor is flexible about when they can meet in person (Parasuraman et al, 1988;Cheng et al, 2018;Vila-Brunet and Llach, 2020). Consequently, it is hypothesized that when online second-hand shoppers perceive the quality of the vendor to be high, their fulfilment of expectations is positively affected.…”

“…Vila-Brunet and Llach (2020) developed and validated an online second-hand shoppers quality scale, OSS-Qual. We use the four main dimensions of the OSS-Qual scale to assess the relationship between perceived service quality and fulfilment of expectations.…”

Complex Customer Loyalty Measurement at Closed-Loop Quality Management in B2B Area—Czech Example

“…Some authors (Siva et al [59], for example) argue that customer focus strongly supports approaches to sustainable development. Brunet and Llach [60] bring interesting findings related to the promotion of a sustainable economy through reducing the consumption of new products.…”