A service perspective on modelling intentions

of on-line purchasing
David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between behavioural intentions and its antecedent factors in online services settings.
Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a national survey of Australians with experience purchasing online. A conceptual model
linking behavioural intentions and its key antecedents was tested using partial least squares.
Findings The results suggest that behavioural intentions are directly influenced by online service quality, online service value and online service
satisfaction. Online service satisfaction, in turn, is affected by online service value and quality; whereas online service value is determined by the online
service quality and related sacrifice.
Research limitations/implications These findings suggest that existing services marketing models developed in offline settings can be adapted to
online settings to explain behavioural intentions. Although the sample included a wide range of people, generalisations of the findings should be made
with caution. In addition, further scale development and theory building are needed to improve the proposed conceptual model.
Practical implications Managerially, results of this study suggest that online service managers do not need to reinvent their business models.
Instead they should modify the way in which some of the constructs like service quality are measured.
Originality/value The study is unique in that it comprehensively addresses an extensive set of factors affecting behaviour intentions in online service
contexts. Thus, it adds knowledge to the growing field of online services research.
Keywords Internet shopping, Consumer behaviour, Australia
Paper type Research paper

Recent research on online services marketing has

concentrated on adapting constructs like service quality to
the online environment (Janda et al., 2002) and testing
individual links between these constructs and behavioural
intentions (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003). What is missing is
a comprehensive empirical test of the links between main
constructs such as service quality, satisfaction, service value
and behavioural intentions in the context of online services.
This is because it remains unclear whether the antecedent
factors of behavioural intentions established in offline settings
will adequately explain consumers stated and actual
behaviours when adapted to the online context. In this paper,
we will therefore examine the ability of the main antecedent
factors of behavioural intentions such as service quality,
satisfaction and service value to explain behavioural intentions
in online settings. The remaining sections of this paper are
organised as follows. We will first review relevant literature and
propose a conceptual model for examining the antecedent
factors of behavioural intentions for online services. We will
then briefly discuss data collection and the research method.
This is followed by the presentation of the results from our data
analysis. We conclude this paper by discussing the research
findings and avenues for future research.

An executive summary for managers can be found at

the end of this article.

Introduction
Companies are increasingly providing services online either as
a replacement for or as an adjunct to traditional offline
services (Pujari, 2004). However, many businesses that offer
online services are not as successful as their equivalent mail
order or bricks and mortar competitors (Yang and Lester,
2004). For example, services such as online banking are
under-utilised relative to the number of customers who could
access the service (Sarel and Marmostein, 2003; Wang et al.,
2003). The mediocre success of many online service offerings
suggests that there is still much to understand about
consumer behaviour in the emerging and increasingly
important field of online services. It has been suggested that
services marketing models developed in the offline setting to
explain behavioural intentions also apply to an online setting
(e.g. Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003; Curran et al., 2003;
Gummerus et al., 2004). However, rigorous empirical
research in this area remains inadequate. For instance,
Bitner et al. (2000) state that further empirical investigation is
required to determine if the same conceptual factors
established in offline service encounters are relevant in a
technologically based environment.

Background
Behavioural intentions have been widely researched in services
marketing (e.g. Andreassen and Lindestad, 1997; Bobbitt and
Dabholkar, 2001; Dabholkar, 1996; Zeithaml et al., 1996).
Several concepts have been examined as antecedent factors of
behavioural intentions; for instance, service quality (Zeithaml
et al., 1996), service value (Cronin et al., 1997), satisfaction
(Andreassen and Lindestad, 1997), trust (Gefen and Straub,
2003), corporate image (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1997),

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm

Journal of Services Marketing

20/7 (2006) 459 470
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045]
[DOI 10.1108/08876040610704892]

459

A service perspective on modelling intentions

Journal of Services Marketing

David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

and attitudes (Curran et al., 2003; Dabholkar, 1996). Service

quality, satisfaction and service value have received most
attention in both the academic literature and business practice.
Table I provides a summary of prior research dealing with
antecedent factors of behavioural intentions. The thrust of the
extant literature suggests there exists a range of possibly
competing conceptualisations. In the current study to model
intentions of on-line purchasing, we will rely upon research
that has provided a synthesis of this work and apply it to on-line
settings.
Recently some authors have started examining on-line
services and associated concepts. For example, Janda et al.
(2002) examined the link between service quality and
intentions; Anderson and Srinivasan (2003) studied the
effect of satisfaction on behavioural intentions; and Chen and
Dubinsky (2003) investigated the relationship between service
value and intentions. Studies like these have examined
concepts such as online service quality and service value in
the online service environment and started developing
relevant measurement scales.
The adaptation of antecedent factors of behavioural
intentions from the services marketing literature to the online
environment has led to differences in the measurement of the
constructs. For instance, Janda et al. (2002) stated that
security, ease of use and navigation, quality and quantity of
information were all specific to the context of purchasing
online. In a more recent study, Trocchia and Janda (2003)
specified access and information as unique to the internet. This
distinction between measurement of these antecedents in
offline settings and online environments is supported by an
increasing number of researchers (e.g. Long and McMellon,
2004; Sheehan and Hoy, 2000). They discuss issues like the
absence of normal audio and visual cues (Long and McMellon,
2004), the different communication methods available (Li et al.,
2002) and increased privacy and security concerns of
consumers in online services (Sheehan and Hoy, 2000).
In summary, there are two compelling reasons for examining
the role of antecedent factors in explaining behavioural
intentions in on-line contexts: First, the measurement of
constructs associated with offline settings differs from that of
online environments (e.g. Janda et al., 2002; Trocchia and
Janda, 2003; Long and McMellon, 2004;). Second, there is a
lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework that explains the
effects of antecedent factors on behavioural intentions in online situations (ie, relevance of existing theoretical models

established within offline contexts) (Bitner et al., 2000;

Parasuraman and Grewal, 2000). In spite of calls for further
research (Shankar et al., 2003), to our knowledge, there is no
comprehensive research that addresses both issues adequately.
In this paper we contribute to the literature by reviewing offline
services research to identify relevant antecedent factors and
then comprehensively assessing their effects on purchasing
intentions in the online service context.

Proposed model
To address the gap in the literature, we propose a conceptual
model that comprehensively link behavioural intentions and
its key antecedent factors. After reviewing the relevant
literature, we identified three potential models on which we
could build our conceptual model. These three models were
proposed by Andreassen and Lindestad (1997), Bolton and
Drew (1991), and Cronin et al. (2000), respectively. We chose
to build our model on the conceptualisation in the work of
Cronin et al. (2000, see also Figure 1) for two reasons.
Firstly, both the Cronin et al. (2000) model and the Bolton
and Drew (1991) model view service value, service quality
and sacrifice as separate constructs. This is preferable to
service value being one construct encompassing sacrifice as a
sub-dimension as in the Andreassen and Lindestad (1997)
model. The model that we adopt can distinguish whether
service value is driven primarily by low costs in online service,
the quality of the service or a combination of both. However,
while both models separate service value into sacrifice and
service quality, we believe that the Cronin et al. (2000) model
has a more parsimonious structure than the Bolton and Drew
(1991) model.
Secondly, the Cronin et al. (2000) model was designed to
integrate the extant research on the relationships between
behavioural intentions and its main antecedent factors. As
such the model includes most of the paths between the
constructs from Table I. This is advantageous because more
relationships between behavioural intentions and its main
antecedents can be tested simultaneously. In addition, to
determine if one or more constructs is the primary influence
on behavioural intentions, all the main antecedent factors
must have a direct path to behavioural intentions. Both the
Andreassen and Lindestad (1997) model and the Bolton and
Drew (1991) model have only one of the antecedents having a
direct influence on behavioural intentions: satisfaction for

Table I Prior research on main antecedents of behavioural intentions

SQ
SQ
SQ
SQ
Sat

!
!
!
!
!

BI
SV ! BI
Sat ! BI
SV ! Sat ! BI
BI

Sat ! SQ ! BI
SV ! BI
SV ! Sat ! BI
Sac ! SV ! BI
Sac ! SV ! Sat ! BI

Cronin et al., 2000; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Parasuraman et al., 1988; Taylor and Baker, 1994; Zeithaml et al. 1996
Bolton and Drew, 1991; Cronin et al., 2000
Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Cronin et al., 2000
Cronin et al., 2000
Anderson and Fornell, 1994; Bolton and Lemon, 1999; Cronin et al., 2000; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Gotlieb et al., 1994;
Patterson and Spreng, 1997; Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003; Bansal et al., 2004; Gummerus et al., 2004
Bitner, 1990; Bolton and Drew, 1991
Bolton and Drew, 1991; Cronin et al., 1997; Cronin et al., 2000; Patterson and Spreng, 1997; Zeithaml, 1988
Andreassen and Lindestad, 1997; Cronin et al., 2000; Patterson and Spreng, 1997
Andreassen and Lindestad, 1997; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Cronin et al., 1997; Cronin et al., 2000; Heskett et al., 1990;
Zeithaml, 1988
Cronin et al., 2000

Notes: BI behavioural intentions, SQ service quality, Sat satisfaction, SV service value, Sac sacrifice

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David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

Figure 1 Proposed model

support in the context of online services while others have yet

to be empirically tested in the online service context. The
research hypotheses are detailed in the following paragraphs.
Sacrifice can be conceptualised in different ways: from the
price of a service (Monroe, 1979) to the time, money and effort
expended to obtain the service (Zeithaml, 1988). However in all
the conceptualisations, sacrifice has a negative effect on service
value (e.g. Andreassen and Lindestad, 1997; Bolton and Drew,
1991; Cronin et al., 1997; Cronin et al., 2000; Heskett et al.,
1990; Zeithaml, 1988). Therefore we hypothesise that sacrifice
has a negative effect on online service value.
H1. Sacrifice has a negative effect on online service value.

Andreassen and Lindestad (1997) and value for Bolton and

Drew (1991).
Adapted mostly from previous research (e.g. Oliver, 1997;
Rust and Oliver, 1994; Zeithaml, 1988; Zeithaml et al., 1996),
the definitions used for each construct in our proposed model
as shown in Figure 1 can be summarised as follows (see also
Appendix 1, Table AI). Online Service Quality is defined as the
consumers judgement about an online services overall
excellence or superiority (Zeithaml, 1988). Online Service
Value is characterised as a form of economic utility in which
customers derive utility from quality, but suffer disutility from
price (Rust and Oliver, 1994). Sacrifice is conceptualised as
consumers received disutility from money and other resources
such as time and effort (Zeithaml, 1988). Online Service
Satisfaction is defined as the consumers fulfilment response.
It is a judgement that an online service feature, or the online
service itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of
consumption-related fulfilment, including levels of under- or
over-fulfilment (Oliver, 1997, p. 13). Finally, Behavioural
Intentions refer to favourable behavioural intentions, which are
defined as When customers praise the firm, express
preference for the company over others, increase the volume
of their purchases, or agreeably pay a price premium, they are
indicating behaviourally that they are bonding with the
company (Zeithaml et al., 1996, p. 34).

Service quality has such a fundamental influence on service

value that some researchers have treated service value as a
form of service quality (Gale, 1994). However, generally
service value is viewed as a more comprehensive measure of
customers overall evaluation of a service than service quality
(Bolton and Drew, 1991; Cronin et al., 2000). Therefore we
suggest that online service quality has a positive effect on
online service value.
H2. Online service quality has a positive effect on online
service value.
Most prior studies suggest that service quality also has a
positive effect on favourable behavioural intentions (Cronin
et al., 2000; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Parasuraman et al.,
1988; Taylor and Baker, 1994; Zeithaml et al., 1996), the
exception being when service quality is associated with price.
In this specific case, researchers (Scitovszky, 1945) have
theorised that service quality can have a negative effect on
some behavioural intentions like intention to purchase.
However, this case is the exception not the rule regarding
the relationship between service quality and behavioural
intentions. In empirical testing of the relationship in the

Research hypotheses
Based on the paths in our proposed model and on previous
research (e.g. Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Bolton and
Drew, 1991; Cronin et al., 2000; Gale, 1994; Patterson and
Spreng, 1997; Taylor and Baker, 1994), a number of
hypotheses can be formulated for the online services
context. For some hypothesises there is empirical research
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A service perspective on modelling intentions

Journal of Services Marketing

David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

Method

context of online services, service quality has been found to

have a positive effect on favourable behavioural intentions
(Janda et al., 2002), so we hypothesise that online service
quality has a positive effect on behavioural intentions.
H3. Online service quality has a positive effect on
behavioural intentions.

To empirically test the above research hypotheses, we

employed a survey method and estimated the model using
partial least squares (PLS). We chose to focus on purchasing
online in the survey, as it is the most common online service.
We first discuss our sample, then our measures, followed by
the method of estimation.

Service quality and satisfaction are discussed as separate

constructs in the literature, however, satisfaction is recognised
as a similar concept to service quality. Oliver (1993, p. 76)
provided a clear distinction between service quality and
satisfaction in stating satisfaction can result from any
dimension, quality related or not. However, the majority of
the literature conceptualises service quality as having a
significantly positive effect on satisfaction (e.g. Anderson and
Sullivan, 1993; Cronin et al., 2000).
In contrast, there are some researchers who conceptualise
the relationship in reverse with satisfaction as an antecedent of
and having a positive effect on service quality (Bitner, 1990;
Bolton and Drew, 1991). Yet the majority of the literature
including the Cronin et al. (2000) model supports the
argument that service quality has a positive influence on
satisfaction. This path has also been empirically tested and
supported in the context of online services (Janda et al.,
2002). Therefore we propose that online service quality has a
positive effect on online service satisfaction.
H4. Online service quality has a positive effect on online
service satisfaction.

Sample
The population for testing our theoretical model consisted of
Australians who have purchased online. According to a recent
report by the Australian Department of Communications,
Information Technology, and the Arts (2004), the Australian
on-line services market is not dissimilar to those in other
developed nations in terms of equity of access, user age group,
e-commerce infrastructure, and cost of internet access (see
Appendix 2, Tables AII-AV for details).
The survey was distributed nationally in each state and
territory of Australia. A snowballing technique has been used as
a distribution method (Zinkhan et al., 1983; Frankwick et al.
1994). One or more people in each state and territory were
contacted and asked to distribute the survey to a range of people
with different age, gender, income, professions and education
levels. In total, of the 500 surveys that were distributed in the
different states/territories, 260 were returned reflecting a
response rate of 52 per cent. Of these 260 surveys, 15 or 5.8
per cent had to be discarded because they were not filled in
correctly. This resulted in 245 usable surveys or 49 per cent of
the original 500 surveys sent out for distribution. Of the 245
usable surveys, 171 or 69.8 per cent had purchased something
online, giving a final sample size of 171 for data analysis.
The 245 usable surveys were compared to the Australian
population data from the 2001 Australian national census. Our
sample was found to match the general population on gender
and the state or territory of residency. However, there were
some minor differences in regards to levels of income, education
and internet usage; all of which have been associated with
online shoppers (Swinyard and Smith, 2003; Monsuwe et al.,
2004). The higher level of internet usage in our sample along
with the overrepresentation of younger age groups than in the
general public is likely to explain why 69.98 per cent or 171 of
the 245 respondents had purchased online. The 245
respondents are therefore not strictly representative of the
Australian population, however, they seem to be representative
of the Australian general public who might purchase online.

Service value has been narrowly conceptualised as composed

only of price and quality (Hauser and Urban, 1986) and more
broadly as anything given up and anything received
(Zeithaml, 1988). However, in all conceptualisations service
value has been theorised as having a positive effect on both
satisfaction (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1997; Cronin et al.,
2000; Patterson and Spreng, 1997) and behavioural
intentions (Bolton and Drew, 1991; Cronin et al., 1997 and
2000; Patterson and Spreng, 1997; Zeithaml, 1988). In
addition, the positive relationship between customer value
and behavioural intentions has been empirically tested and
confirmed in the context of online services (Chen and
Dubinsky, 2003). Therefore online service value is
hypothesised to have a positive effect on online service
satisfaction and behavioural intentions.
H5. Online service value has a positive effect on online
service satisfaction.
H6. There is a positive relationship between online service
value and behavioural intentions.

Measures
For each of the constructs in our model, we have, where
possible, employed and, if required, adapted multi-item
measurement scales that had been empirically tested in the
online purchasing context. The measurement scales include
reflective and formative ones. All scales except involvement
were reworded to better suit the online service context and
have been evaluated during the pre-test.
The pre-test provided feedback on the instructions, design
and scales used in the survey. It helped us to identify where
the scales needed improvement given the relatively new and
untested nature for most scale items. The most important
piece of feedback was the need to add a not applicable (NA)
option to all scale items. The pre-test achieved a response rate
of 40 per cent with twenty surveys returned from the fifty
provided by internal mail and by hand to respondents. All the
responses were filled in correctly, however, only 16 had

Like service quality and service value, satisfaction is

conceptualised in a large proportion of the literature as having
a positive influence on behavioural intentions (Anderson and
Fornell, 1994; Bolton and Lemon, 1999; Cronin et al., 2000;
Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Gotlieb et al., 1994; Patterson and
Spreng, 1997). Satisfaction in some forms such as intention to
switch service provider, intention to provide positive word of
mouth and intention to repurchase has been tested and found
to exist in the context of online services (Anderson and
Srinivasan, 2003; Bansal et al., 2004; Gummerus et al., 2004).
Therefore we argue that online service satisfaction has a positive
effect on behavioural intentions.
H7. Online service satisfaction has a positive effect on
behavioural intentions.
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David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

purchased something online, thus reducing the sample size.

The small sample size meant that wherever possible scale
items were retained so that they could be tested more
thoroughly in the main study.
For the reflective scale the statistical program SPSS was
used to conduct a reliability analysis using the internal
consistency method to decide which scale items should be
dropped, if any. So the items to be dropped either increase the
reliability in the form of Cronbachs coefficient alpha to meet
or exceed the requirement of 0.8 for confirmatory research
(Nunnally, 1978) or they had corrected inter-item correlation
below 0.3. The cut-off for corrected inter-item correlation
was chosen to meet Briggs and Cheek s (1986) requirement
of an average inter-item correlation between 0.2 and 0.4. The
Cronbachs alpha for service quality before modification was
0.885 and after the modification was 0.913.
For the formative scales (sacrifice, satisfaction, behavioural
intentions), a careful analysis of responses and comments was
conducted. One item was dropped from sacrifice to allow
space for the NA option, this item about the physical risk of
purchasing online was dropped based on the comments from
respondents in the pretest. Another item was dropped from
the control variable of involvement due to the confusion about
its meaning. The question was phrased in American colloquial
language for which no Australian equivalent existed and
therefore had to be dropped, as the risk of misunderstandings
was very high.

scales are adequate for measuring the constructs in our

proposed model.
As can be seen in Table II, the service quality loadings all
meet the 0.7 requirement (Chin, 1998; Hulland, 1999) to
show adequate reliability, no items are below 0.5 and all items
have highly significant loadings. The item weights (see Table
III) are reviewed for the formative scales as to whether they
are significant in the direction that the literature suggests.
All the weights are positive as the literature suggested,
however, there are six items with insignificant bootstrap tstatistics at the 0.05 significance level: SACA, SACD, SACE,
OSSATE, OSSATH, BIF (see Appendix 3, Table AVI for
definitions of the items). For sacrifice, SACA is an item about
the monetary price paid for the service and is considered by
most researchers to be an essential element of sacrifice
(Cronin et al., 1997; Monroe, 1979; Zeithaml, 1988), so this
item is retained as it represents an important dimension of
sacrifice. The second problematic item for sacrifice, SACD, is
an item about the financial risk of the purchase. Because it is
also considered an important dimension of sacrifice,
especially in the context of purchasing online (Bobbitt and
Dabholkar, 2001; Janda et al., 2002; Szymanski and Hise,
2000), it is consequently retained. The third problematic item
for sacrifice, SACE, is concerned with the performance risk. It
is also considered by researchers to be an important
dimension of sacrifice especially in the context of purchasing
online (Bobbitt and Dabholkar, 2001) and is significant at
0.10 significance level, so SACE is retained as well.

Method
The data are analysed using partial least squares (PLS), a
well-established technique for estimating path coefficients in
causal models (Hulland, 1999). The conceptual core of PLS
is an iterative combination of principal components analysis
relating measures to constructs, and path analysis permitting
the construction of a system of constructs. The major
advantages of PLS are that it:
.
accepts small sample sizes;
.
can deal with complex causal models;
.
does not require multivariate normality;
.
produces consistent parameter estimates; and
.
allows the use of formative and reflective measurement
scales.

Table II Loading and bootstrap t-statistic for reflective scale

Construct and items
Online service quality
OSQA
OSQD
OSQG

Loading

Bootstrap t-statistic

0.869
0.838
0.884

26.11
23.49
35.77

Table III Weights and bootstrap t-statistics for formative scales

According to Chin (1997), the sample size is sufficient when

using PLS for estimating effects in structural equations if both
of the following conditions are met: the sample size must be
equal or greater than (1) ten times the number of items of any
formative scale and (2) the number of antecedent factors
directly affecting any construct. Both conditions are satisfied
in our study (i.e. the largest number of indicators in any
formative scale is 4, requiring a minimum sample size of 40;
and the largest number of antecedent factors directly affecting
any construct is 3, requiring a minimum sample size of 30).

Measurement scale assessment

Prior to model estimation, we evaluated the measurement
scales. For reflective scales we assessed skewness and kurtosis
values, unidimensionality, convergent and discriminant
validity and reliability (i.e. factor loadings, Cronbach alpha,
and so on). For formative scales, using factor analysis we
identified one single item for each of the dimensions captured
in a single formative scale (Rossiter, 2002). Tables II-V
summarise final test statistics. The results suggest that the

Construct and items

Weights

Bootstrap t-statistic

Online service value

OSV

1.000

0.0000

Sacrifice
SACA
SACC
SACD
SACE

0.179
0.755
0.005
0.332

0.71
5.10
0.02
1.37

Online service satisfaction

OSSATB
OSSATE
OSSATH
OSSATK

0.375
0.196
0.121
0.650

1.99
1.48
0.85
4.68

Behavioural intentions
BIB
BID
BIF

0.456
0.492
0.216

2.97
2.59
1.22

Note: Scale items are set out in full in Table AII

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David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

Table IV Square root of average variance extracted and correlations

Online service quality
Online service quality
Online service value
Sacrifice
Online service satisfaction
Behavioural intentions

0.864

Online service value

Sacrifice

Online service satisfaction

Behavioural intentions

0.286
0.416
2 0.300
0.677b

0.348
0.382
20.357
0.531
0.837b

0.415
1.000b

20.300
20.373a
0.653b

Notes: aCorrelations rounded to three decimal places; bsquare root AVE rounded to three decimal places

constructs. So it can be concluded that any link established

between the constructs is likely due to an actual relationship
as opposed to measurement error.

Table V Construct or composite reliability scores

Constructs
Online service quality
Online service value
Sacrifice
Online service satisfaction
Behavioural intentions

Construct (composite) reliability

0.898
1.000
0.732
0.765
0.874

Results
The results of the PLS estimation of the structural model are
summarised in Table VI. They provide good support for the
seven hypotheses. All effects are significant and the
standardised coefficients for the hypothesised are above 0.2
for four of the seven relationships and none of the paths are
below 0.1 suggesting in all cases that there is a theoretically
interesting effect (Chin, 1998).
The structural model includes three types of effects: direct,
indirect and total effects and it is important to consider all
types (Mueller, 1996). As shown in Table VII, it is interesting
in looking at the total effect of online service quality on
behavioural intentions that the standardised total effect is
0.325 larger than the direct effect of 0.171, online service
value also has a substantially larger total effect 0.288 than its
direct effect 0.135. Additionally, while the direct effect of
online service quality on online service satisfaction is small at
0.137 the total effect is nearly twice the size at 0.257. In fact,
all the total effects except for the two paths from sacrifice
exceed 0.2, with five paths exceeding 0.3. These findings
suggest that online service satisfaction is potentially the main
antecedent factor of behavioural intentions with the largest
direct effect on behavioural intentions at 0.426. The R2 of the
endogenous constructs ranged from 0.19 for online service
satisfaction to 0.34 for behavioural intentions, suggesting that
our model explains significant amount of variance in the
dependent variables.

The first problematic item for online service satisfaction,

OSSATE, is about the variety of offerings, which is considered
important when purchasing over the internet (Srinivasan et al.,
2002) so the item is retained. The second problematic item for
satisfaction, OSSATH, is about the security of the transaction,
which is also considered by researchers to be important when
purchasing online (Bobbitt and Dabholkar, 2001; Szymanski
and Hise, 2000). The problematic item for behavioural
intentions, BIF, is about price insensitivity. Price insensitivity
is considered an important dimension to overall favourable
behavioural intentions (Zeithaml, 1988) and so this item is
retained as well.
Discriminant validity is important in models that include
constructs like quality, value and satisfaction, which at various
times have been described as similar or even the same. The
average variance extracted (AVE) method (Fornell and
Larker, 1981) is a relatively strict method of assessing
discriminant validity. The AVE method requires that the
average variance extracted in a construct measurement scale
be greater than the squared correlation of that construct with
every other construct in the model. Essentially, the variance
explained by the scale associated with the construct needs to
be greater than the variance the scale explains in other
constructs. The square roots of the AVEs for each construct
are set out on the diagonal of Table IV with the correlations
above the diagonal.
The square root AVE for each construct is greater than the
correlation of the construct with any other construct, so the
measurement models display discriminant validity. AVE for
the online service value is fixed at one because it is a single
item measure. It is interesting to note even though this is not
necessary for formative scales that all the constructs also have
composite or construct reliability above 0.7 (see Table V) with
the lowest at 0.732.
Overall the number of problematic items supports the
argument that the scales still require further development.
However, the scales are reasonably effective with all the scales
having at least one significant item at the 0.05 level and most
of the remaining items significant at the 0.10 level.
Furthermore, the AVE test for discriminant validity
established that there is a true distinction between the

Discussion
The primary purpose of this paper was to assess the ability of
the main antecedent factors of behavioural intentions from
the services marketing literature including service quality,
satisfaction and service value to explain behavioural intentions
in the online service context. Although some of the links
between the antecedent factors such as the link between
online service quality and behavioural intentions were weaker
than expected, all of the links were found to be significant.
However the weak links do add weight to the call from
researchers such as Parasuraman and Grewal (2000) to take
care when transferring concepts from offline service research
into a technologically mediated environment. If a different
model without the following two paths were used firstly,
from online service quality to online service value and secondly,
from online service value to online satisfaction it might have
led to the erroneous conclusion that online service quality has
little effect on behavioural intentions in the context of
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A service perspective on modelling intentions

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David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

Table VI Path coefficients and bootstrap t-statistics

Hypotheses

Standardised coefficients

Bootstrap t-statistic

Significant levels

20.273
0.333
0.171
0.137
0.359
0.135
0.426

3.72
3.77
2.69
1.56
4.44
2.31
4.53

***

Sacrifice ! online service value

Online service quality ! Online service value
Online service quality ! behavioural intentions
Online service quality ! Online service satisfaction
Online service value ! Online service satisfaction
Online service value ! behavioural intentions
Online service satisfaction ! behavioural intentions

***
***
*
***
**
***

Notes: *Significant at p , 0.10; * *significant at p , 0.05; * * *significant at p , 0.01

Table VII Direct, indirect, and total effects on behavioural intentions

Effects

Direct

Online service quality ! behavioural intentions

Online service value ! behavioural intentions
Sacrifice ! behavioural intentions
Online service satisfaction ! behavioural intentions
Online service quality ! online service satisfaction
Online service value ! online service satisfaction
Sacrifice ! online Service Satisfaction
Online service quality ! online service value
Sacrifice ! online service value

0.171
0.135
0.426
0.137
0.359

Standardised coefficients
Indirect
0.154
0.153
2 0.079
0.120
2 0.098

0.333
20.273

Total
0.325
0.288
2 0.079
0.426
0.257
0.359
20 .098
0.333
2 0.273

We extended the Cronin et al. (2000) model to online service

contexts, developed and tested relevant measurement scales,
and examined the model empirically using PLS for model
estimation. The results suggest that behavioural intentions
within the online service context are directly influenced by
online service quality, online service value and online service
satisfaction. Online service satisfaction, in turn, is affected by
online service value and quality; whereas online service value
is determined by the online service quality and related
sacrifice. The strongest direct effect on behavioural intentions
comes from online service satisfaction.
We have established that existing services marketing models
that examine behavioural intensions and its main antecedents
(service quality, satisfaction and service value) in the offline
setting can be applied to an online setting to explain the
behavioural intensions and by inference actual consumer
behaviour. However, further scale development and theory
building are needed to improve our proposed model.
The major implication for theory arising from this study is
that the offline links established between constructs such as
service quality and service value are robust even when applied
to an online service environment. Additionally the support
provided for the links between the constructs reinforces the
appropriateness of the scale development being carried out on
constructs like online service quality.
The main implication for business practice arising from this
study is that the services marketing model including
behavioural intentions and their antecedent factors can be
applied to online services, provided that appropriate scale
modification and/or development is conducted. This means
online services can be treated in a similar manner to offline
services and potentially concepts like customer loyalty be
applied to the online environment. This implication is critical

purchasing online.Although all the scale items weighted in the

direction that is consistent with theory, some items were
found to be statistically insignificant despite the fact that all of
them had theoretical backing in the literature. This suggests
that more detailed scale development needs to be undertaken
for the constructs in our proposed model. It is interesting to
note that SACD, an item about the financial risk of the
purchase was insignificant for sacrifice, however, a similar
item, OSSATH, also about the financial risk in the service
encounter is the most significant and has the largest weighting
for online service satisfaction. The item with the largest
weighting for sacrifice was SACC, an item about the time
expended in the encounter, indicating as many researchers
have suggested that the time saved when purchasing online is
a major part of the value proposition.
The R2 of 0.34 for behavioural intentions is adequate given
the theory building nature of the study and the range of
services purchased, although further development of the
scales for the online context is required to explain a higher
proportion of the variance in behavioural intentions. This
suggests that the main antecedent factors identified in our
model can be used to explain behavioural intentions and by
inference actual consumer behaviour.

Conclusion
To date there has been little empirical research in the services
marketing literature to comprehensively examine behavioural
intentions and its antecedent factors in the increasingly
important online services settings. This paper attempts to
address this gap by examining the ability of four main
antecedents to explain behavioural intentions in the online
service context.
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David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

to businesses, as it means not reinventing their business

models for the context of purchasing online but rather
modifying the way in which some of the constructs like service
quality are measured.
There are a number of limitations associated with this
study. The first limitation pertained to the generalisability of
the findings. While respondents to the survey had purchased a
wide range of products online, it is not clear whether the
categories represented all or most of what Australian general
public who purchase online would buy. As the 55-64 and
65 categories were under-represented in our sample, they
may purchase completely different products and have
different purchase experiences. The second limitation was in
relation to the measurement scales. The scales used to
measure some of the constructs in our proposed model
require further development as shown by the relatively low R2
for the endogenous constructs. The scales may have also
influenced some of the path coefficients between the
constructs so a replication of the study with different
measurement scales would be of value.
Other areas for future studies include examining competing
models involving the antecedent factors of behavioural
intentions; exploring the effect on the antecedents of the
nature of specific online services; testing how accurately the
behavioural intentions developed in regard to online services
translate to actual consumer behaviour; and examining the
effect of including additional constructs from the services
marketing literature such as trust and loyalty.

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Corresponding author
David Hackman can be contacted at: david.hackman@
uts.edu.au
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David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

Appendix 1
Table AI Constructs and definitions
Construct

Definition

Source

Online service quality

The consumers judgement about an online services overall excellence or superiority

Zeithaml (1988)

Online service value

A form of economic utility in which customers derive utility from quality, but suffer
disutility from price

Rust and Oliver (1994)

Sacrifice

As consumers received disutility from money and other resources such as time and effort

Zeithaml (1988)

Online service satisfaction

The consumers fulfilment response. It is a judgement that an online service feature, or the
online service itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related
fulfilment, including levels of under- or over-fulfilment

Oliver (1997)

Behavioural intentions (refers to

favourable behavioural
intentions)

When customers praise the firm, express preference for the company over others, increase
the volume of their purchases, or agreeably pay a price premium, they are indicating
behaviourally that they are bonding with the company

Zeithaml et al. (1996)

Appendix 2. Information economy index summary

Secure e-commerce infrastructure (Table AIV)

This score increases based on the number of secure servers
per million inhabitants, the US anchors the top of the scale
(100) with the highest number of servers per million.

Equity of access gender (Table AII)

This score increases as the disparity between the numbers of
males and females accessing the internet reduces, a score of
100 equals no statistical significant difference.

Table AIV Secure e-commerce infrastructure

Country

Table AII Equity of access gender

Country
UK
Canada
Hong Kong
Australia
Sweden
Netherlands
France
Japan
Spain
Italy
Germany

US
Canada
Australia
UK
Sweden
Germany
Netherlands
Japan
France
Spain
Italy

Score
98
97
97
96
95
92
91
89
89
84
82

Score
100
66
64
46
37
26
22
15
11
9
5

Source: DCITA (2004)

Source: DCITA (2004)

Cost of internet access (Table AV)

This score represents the entry level price for DSL access
using Purchasing Power Parities rates, with Japan anchoring
the top of the scale (100) with the cheapest price.

Equity of access age (Table AIII)

This score increases as the difference between numbers of
each age group accessing the internet reduces, a score of 100
equals no statistical significant difference.

Table AV Cost of internet access

Country

Table AIII Equity of access age

Country
Sweden
UK
Australia
Canada
Netherlands
France
Germany
Spain
Italy

Japan
Netherlands
Australia
Canada
US
France
Germany
UK
Sweden
Italy
Spain

Score
64
58
50
48
38
28
25
25
24

Source: DCITA (2004)

Source: DCITA (2004)

468

Score
100
65
62
56
51
43
43
42
38
32
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A service perspective on modelling intentions

Journal of Services Marketing

David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

Appendix 3
Table AVI Final survey questions
Construct

Question

Online service quality (1 5 strongly disagree; 7 5 strongly agree)

OSQA: Excellent overall service

OSQD: When the business I purchased from promises to do something by a
certain time, they will do so
OSQG: The business I purchased form gave me prompt service

Online service value (1 5 very low, 7 5 very high)

Sacrifice (1 5 low cost, 7 5 high cost)

OSV: Overall, the value offered by the purchase experience was

SACA: The price charged to purchase using the website was (dollar cost)
SACC: The time required to use the website (time)
SACD: The financial risk associated with the website (financial risk)
SACE: The risk of receiving poor product or service performance from using
the website (performance risk)

Online service satisfaction (1 5 Much worse than I would receive

purchasing for similar businesses online; 7 5 Much better that I would
receive purchasing from other similar businesses online)

OSSATB: Convenience
OSSATE: Variety of offerings
OSSATH: Financial security of the transaction
OSSATK: Presenting information fast

Behavioural intentions (1 5 Not at all likely; 7 5 Highly likely)

BIB: Recommend the business I purchased from to someone who seeks my

advice
BID: Consider the business I purchased from my first choice if I were to
require this product again
BIF: Continue to use the business I purchased from if prices increase
somewhat

Executive summary and implications for

managers

to an executive who simply picks up the telephone to make a

booking or drops in at the hotels reception desk.

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives

a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article
in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of
the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the
material present.

Factors affecting behavioural intentions

Hackman et al. examine the factors affecting customers
behavioural intentions in online services settings. Behavioural
intentions centre on whether the customer praises the firm,
says he or she prefers it to other companies, buys more from
the firm, or pays more for a service from the company than he
or she would be willing to pay for the service from another
company.
The research considers the effect on behavioural intentions
of:
.
online service quality the customers judgement about the
online services overall excellence or superiority;
.
online service value where customers derive utility from
quality, but suffer "disutility" from price;
.
sacrifice the disutility from the time, money and effort
the customer has to spend to obtain the service; and
.
online service satisfaction the customers judgement about
how fulfilled he or she feels about an online service feature
or the online service itself.

From banking to rail tickets and from car hire to hotels, the
range of services sold online continues to increase. It therefore
becomes increasingly important for service providers to know
exactly what makes customers buy services online rather than
through brick-and-mortar outlets and, equally importantly,
what turns them off.
Online and offline services: a comparison
Certain factors will be common to both online and
traditional services marketing. But there will also be
differences between the two. While information security will
always be important to bank customers, it will be of greater
significance to people who bank online because of the danger
of computer hackers gaining access to customer accounts. A
person trying to buy a rail ticket online is likely to need more
convincing of the quality and quantity of information about
the time and fare for the train he or she is trying to book than
a customer who turns up at the station and asks the ticket
clerk to make the reservation. A business person trying to
reserve an hotel room online will expect the companys site to
be easy to navigate, but this factor would be of no importance

The research reveals that a customers behavioural intentions

in an online service context are directly affected by online
service quality, online service value and online service
satisfaction. Online service satisfaction, in turn, is affected
by online service value and quality, whereas online service
value is determined by online service quality and related
sacrifice. The strongest direct effect on behavioural intentions
comes from online service satisfaction.
469

A service perspective on modelling intentions

Journal of Services Marketing

David Hackman, Siegfried P. Gundergan, Paul Wang and Kerry Daniel

Volume 20 Number 7 2006 459 470

No need for new models for the online service

environment
The researchers found that all the links that have been shown
to be significant in the offline service environment are also
significant in the online environment. This means that online
service managers do not need to reinvent the business models
of their offline colleagues. However, some links in the online
environment were weaker than expected. This was the case,
for example, over the link between online service quality and

behavioural intentions. The weak links do add weight to the

call some researchers have made to take care when
transferring concepts from offline service research to the
online environment. Adaptations may be needed in the way
they are measured.
(A precis of the article A service perspective on modelling
intentions of on-line purchasing. Supplied by Marketing
Consultants for Emerald.)

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