The Effect of E-commerce on Customer Loyalty An Empirical Study of Travel Agencies in Ethiopia
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Date
2019-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The fast changes in the ICT especially the Internet effect of e-commerce on the travel agency business is immense in terms of customer retention. Therefore, e-commerce dimensions have become more and more impactful since the last three decades, especially in the travel industry. As a result, this study is aimed to empirically investigate the effect of e-commerce dimension (ease of use, website design, responsiveness, personalization or customization, perceived security, perceived privacy and e-commerce promotion) on customer loyalty in travel agency industry in Ethiopia. A theoretical framework was used as a guideline to test the influence of e-commerce dimensions on customer loyalty in travel agencies. A quantitative research approach was implemented. Besides, a descriptive research design was used for this study. A questionnaire derived from previous studies and the relevant literature is completed by 189 owners, managers, and agents in Addis Ababa. Correlation analysis assessed the relationship between e-commerce dimensions and customer loyalty and multiple regression analysis assessed the impact of e-commerce dimensions and customer loyalty. The findings of this study confirmed that four independent variables (responsiveness, personalization or customization, perceived security, e-commerce promotion) have a positive and significant relationship with customer loyalty according to the perceptions of stakeholders in travel agencies. However, though the correction analysis showed significant relationship between ease of use, website design and perceived privacy and customer loyalty the multiple regressions analysis didn’t confirm as it was not statistically significant. Therefore, travel agencies need to capitalize on their responsiveness, personalization or customization as well as perceived security leverages they have and airlines need to improve possible drawbacks on these factors and capitalize on the influence of e-commerce promotion to attract more online customers.
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Keywords
e-commerce, e-commerce dimensions, Customer loyalty