Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective

In this study we focus on how e-retailers who deal with innovative products in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT) select product delivery service providers to ensure timely and efficient delivery to customers. Based on the asset–process–performance framework, we propose a triadic model that inc...

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Main Authors: YU, Jie, Subramanian, Nachiappan, Ning, Kun, Edwards, David
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48902/
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author YU, Jie
Subramanian, Nachiappan
Ning, Kun
Edwards, David
author_facet YU, Jie
Subramanian, Nachiappan
Ning, Kun
Edwards, David
author_sort YU, Jie
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description In this study we focus on how e-retailers who deal with innovative products in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT) select product delivery service providers to ensure timely and efficient delivery to customers. Based on the asset–process–performance framework, we propose a triadic model that includes e-retailers, product delivery service providers and customers to achieve synergy and customer satisfaction in the era of the IoT. We find that substantive selective criteria should include consideration of product delivery service providers’ hard and soft infrastructure. In addition, flexibility is a key criterion that will strengthen the relationship between e-retailers and product delivery service providers to improve the competitiveness of e-retailers as well as to satisfy the customers. We validate the model using data from 148 Taobao e-retailers. Our results indicate that both hard and soft infrastructures have positive influence on flexibility which in turn has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. Indeed, flexibility fully mediates the relationship between hard and soft infrastructures and customer satisfaction. Our theoretical triadic model is one of the first attempts in providing product delivery service providers selection criteria for e-retailers selling innovative products and its influence on customer satisfaction. Our findings provide guidelines for both e-retailers and product delivery service providers to improve their competitiveness.
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spelling nottingham-489022020-05-04T16:59:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48902/ Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective YU, Jie Subramanian, Nachiappan Ning, Kun Edwards, David In this study we focus on how e-retailers who deal with innovative products in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT) select product delivery service providers to ensure timely and efficient delivery to customers. Based on the asset–process–performance framework, we propose a triadic model that includes e-retailers, product delivery service providers and customers to achieve synergy and customer satisfaction in the era of the IoT. We find that substantive selective criteria should include consideration of product delivery service providers’ hard and soft infrastructure. In addition, flexibility is a key criterion that will strengthen the relationship between e-retailers and product delivery service providers to improve the competitiveness of e-retailers as well as to satisfy the customers. We validate the model using data from 148 Taobao e-retailers. Our results indicate that both hard and soft infrastructures have positive influence on flexibility which in turn has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. Indeed, flexibility fully mediates the relationship between hard and soft infrastructures and customer satisfaction. Our theoretical triadic model is one of the first attempts in providing product delivery service providers selection criteria for e-retailers selling innovative products and its influence on customer satisfaction. Our findings provide guidelines for both e-retailers and product delivery service providers to improve their competitiveness. Elsevier 2015-01-31 Article PeerReviewed YU, Jie, Subramanian, Nachiappan, Ning, Kun and Edwards, David (2015) Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective. International Journal of Production Economics, 159 . pp. 104-116. ISSN 0925-5273 Product delivery service provider; E-commerce; Customer satisfaction; Triads https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527314003090?via%3Dihub doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2014.09.031 doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2014.09.031
spellingShingle Product delivery service provider; E-commerce; Customer satisfaction; Triads
YU, Jie
Subramanian, Nachiappan
Ning, Kun
Edwards, David
Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective
title Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective
title_full Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective
title_fullStr Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective
title_full_unstemmed Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective
title_short Product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a Chinese e-retailers’ perspective
title_sort product delivery service provider selection and customer satisfaction in the era of internet of things: a chinese e-retailers’ perspective
topic Product delivery service provider; E-commerce; Customer satisfaction; Triads
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48902/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48902/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48902/