1. Introduction
The number of smart-phone users are increasing rapidly because smart-phones, unlike traditional mobile phones, have a variety of functions in addition to basic phone communication such as online web surfing, gaming, and entertainment, and applications that enhance daily life (Chen, Yen, & Chen, 2009). Smart-phone use is expected to reach 1.5 billion units by 2017, 2/3 of total mobile phones, and this trend will likely result in an explosive growth for the smart-phone application market (Hwang & Lee, 2013). The expansion of the smart-phone market sees potential diners search for restaurants and eateries through various information channels such as television, picture booklets, and two-way interactive channels including online internet and mobile spheres (Kim & Cho, 2015; Hyun, 2011).
The heart of marketing lies in the effective structuring of the brand, and further accentuated that brand structuring and management is the beginning and end of marketing (Kumar, Scheer, & Kotler, 2000). Therefore, to survive in the competitive and saturated market of coffee shops and franchises, branding has to take shape from the bottom-up and address the needs of the consumer, instead of taking shape from the top-down in the form of corporate branding. The market of coffee franchise shops have experienced steady growth despite the global recession because they have taken shape as an essential cultural space for contemporaries. In order for the coffee franchises to establish a long-term competitive advantage against competitors, they have to evolve a step further, from the offline shop where coffee is sold and bought, towards becoming an essential part of contemporary life through smart-phone application marketing. Marketing through applications opens an important channel of communication where consumers can share insight regarding their needs. In comparison to the vast size of the coffee franchise market and consumer demand, smart-phone brand communication through application service is limited to the few leading global franchises. Smaller franchises rely on a simple form of corporate driven business propaganda and information sharing; therefore, it is important to investigate consumer behavior within the sphere of e-business and identify the role of smart-phone applications as a tool for e-service. However, there is a lack of research into consumer reactions and the influence of consumer behavior by e-service in the smart-phone environment.
The vitalization of the smart-phone market has opened new opportunities for coffee franchises to expose customers to new experiences through applications and help them understand, order, and study coffee. As the number of coffee shop franchises and demand for coffee increases, research into good service procedure, customer commitment, customer satisfaction and their effects on long-term orientation is urgent (Kang, 2012). Consequently, this research paper seeks to derive useful market implications by investigating the relationship between e-service quality of coffee franchise applications and customer commitment, customer satisfaction, and long-term orientation.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Franchise Coffee Shop Applications
Applications can be searched and downloaded from Mobile Application Stores. Nowadays, a majority of franchise coffee shops are investing in the use and active use of their applications. While there are limitations in the role an application can take in the marketing of a service-based business, considering recent trends where 30 billion downloads have been made in 2013 and yearly growth has maintained 300 – 400% year-on-year, it is impossible to ignore the role smart-phone applications have in the future marketing strategy of coffee franchises. Tan and Lo (2008) found that applications in the service industry in Hong Kong are increasingly recognized as important parts of the franchise in a profit-based approach to market segmentation of specialty coffee shops. From the results of this research, coffee house managers in Hong Kong developed a strategy to meet the requirement of the market sector based on four factors such as service seekers, job seekers, high quality coffee seekers, and marketing oriented customers. It is based on differences in coffee house selection factor, socio- demographic variables and coffee consumption behavior. Okumus, Bilgihan, and Ozturk (2016) argued that when ordering food and beverages in the food-service industry, the results of the intention to use smart-phone diet applications are as follows. First, when an individual is perceived as useful and enjoyable, the probability of adopting smart-phone diet applications is high, and social norms play an important role in adopting smart-phone application. Second, individuals with high personal innovativeness tend to use those applications more often. Based on the results, they suggested that restaurant operators should design specific diet applications and develop menus for subdivision markets to establish specific marketing strategies.
The number of downloads for applications of franchise coffee shops are far less in comparison to the dissemination of smart-phone and the number of downloads for all applications. Out of the top 10 franchises, based on number of stores, only 60% of the franchises actively promote their applications. Kim, Seoung, and Lee’s (2011) study revealed that the availability of dining and restaurant information through their respective smart-phone applications increased user satisfaction and value-needs in the metrics of usability, approachability, communication, and menu selection. Nam and Hyun (2011) discovered in their study of application quality that the quality of an information or system does not influence user satisfaction. However, it discovered that the quality of service influences user satisfaction (Shin, Hwang, Lee, & Cho, 2015). The quality of the system and quality of service positively influences a user’s decision to revisit the application. Satisfaction from using an application significantly influences the user’s decision to visit a particular restaurant, but does not influence the intention to continue using the application.
2.2. Quality of E-Service
The typical way to measure the quality of service is to use a standardized survey called SERVQUAL (Parasurasman, Zeitheml, & Berry, 1988). It is structured with 22 questions measuring 5 dimensions - tangibility, credibility, responsiveness, certainty, and sympathy. SERVPERF (Cornin & Taylor, 1994) is another common tool to measure customer service based on expectation, problem, and errors. The normalization of this tool is bringing its fair share of criticism in academia, driving researchers to develop their own tools to measure service quality for specific scopes. The gap between the tangible real world and online cyber-space is driving a lot of researchers and academics to develop a measurement tool for the quality of e-service (Yoo & Donthu, 2001). Santos (2003) claimed that the measurement of e-service quality required a user’s feedback of their comprehensive experience on the web-site, while Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Malhotra (2005) attempted to break down all the points of interaction between the web-site and the consumer. Rust and Lemon (2001) defined the scope of e-service as not only the conventional service provided by service-based organizations but also the service provided by manufacturers dependent on quality assurance. This scope is receiving a lot of interest from the IT sector for its consideration of service on online networks. The strength of online e-service is the information exchange. E-service in e-commerce can be considered as the effective communication of information and contents through available channels. It is difficult to evaluate e-service using existing tools because the medium of communication has changed from offline to online (Parasuraman et al., 2005). Therefore, there is an urgent need for an appropriate evaluation tool.
The research into e-service takes off after 2000. Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Malhotra (2000) analyzed this subject based on credibility, responsiveness, approachability, flexibility, user friendliness, effectiveness, validity, security, price knowledge, site design, personalization, and etc. Kaynama and Black (2000) realized that there was not a lot of research available measuring the quality of web-based travel services, and developed the E-QUAL model to measure the quality of service for online commerce. Jarvenpaa and Todd (1997) used 5 factors such as perceived risk of consumers to evaluate the service quality on the internet. Generally, numerous research evaluating the quality of service in the offline sphere discovered that the quality of service affected customer satisfaction (Cronin & Taylor, 1994; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988). In the online situation, it has been demonstrated that service quality has a significant effect on customer satisfaction as well (Lee & Lin, 2005).
2.3. Customer Commitment and Customer Satisfaction
Commitment is an individual’s propensity to feel at one or connected with the organization (Kelley, Donnelly, & Skinner, 1990; Ryu, Swinney, Muske, & Zachary, 2012). Commitment is a key factor in maintaining a long-term relationship, and has traditionally been studied by social psychologists and organization behavior academics. Recently, as commitment plays a pivotal role to make long-term relationships, the word has caught onto marketers because in order to develop a long-term relationship with consumers, A number of research based on commitment(Kim, Lee, & Back, 2007; O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986; Schappe, 1998; Scholl, 1981; Wiener, 1982) focused on the experience of the employees to analyze commitment from within the organization. However, more modern studies of the field are concerned with commitment between the customer and the organization from the outside-in. Consumers can empathize with an organization’s values and goals through a social process, eventually leading them to commit. Consequently, research into customer commitment can replace the existing concept of employee commitment. Customer commitment can be considered one of the more significant index for social exchange because psychological affection is involved (Morgan & Hunt, 1994). Mowday (1999) claimed that commitment can be to the organization or an individual, and it can take many forms such as sentimental alignment or process alignment (Kim et al., 2007). Allen and Meyer (1990), in their study of the measurement of organizational commitment and leading variables, realized commitment in three forms them being emotional commitment, commitment to maintenance, and commitment to authority. The customer is emotionally committed in sentimental alignment, and enjoying the membership into the organization. In organizational behavior theory, this concept came into the limelight because it provided insight into employee attitudes (Gruen, Summers, & Acito, 2000). Commitment to maintenance relates to the costs and losses experienced by the employee when he leaves. The employee motivates himself to stay in the organization to avoid these costs (Rusbult & Farrell, 1983). Finally, commitment to authority depends on the employee’s propensity to feel the sense of duty and authority (Lee, Gong, & Yoo, 2004). The concept of customer commitment can be introduced through an adaptation of the employee commitment concept. In this case, employee commitment means an employee’s attachment to the organization’s vision and values. However, customers can also show a loyalty to the organization at a different level of involvement (Lee et al., 2004).
Meanwhile, satisfaction takes the meaning of commitment. When satisfaction is the difference between actual performance and expectation, a satisfied consumer will most likely revisit or repurchase the business and play an integral role in the long term demand for the product or service(Quan & Youn, 2016). On the other hand, a dissatisfied customer will no longer consider the product or service, and may even play a significant role in spreading negative buzz, hurting the organization in the long run (Choi & Jun, 2007; Min & Loh, 2016). Hunt (1977) researched the emotional responses and evaluations of particular experiences with a product or service. He claimed that satisfaction does not come from experience, but from the positive difference in the expectation and the actual experience with a product or service. Newman and Werbel (1973) claimed that a dissatisfied consumer was less-likely to revisit or repurchase a product or service. They derived that customer satisfaction modified consumer behavior, and concluded that consumer behavior drives the decision to revisit or repurchase. The decision to revisit or repurchase is also affected my modified behavior after the point of actual payment. Even though the customer may be dissatisfied at a period after the point of actual purchase, if the dissatisfaction is not handled with thoroughly, it opens a negative risk to the businesses’ image and sales (Dastane & Lee, 2016). The decision to revisit a particular product or service is affected by the customer’s intentions, which is in turn influenced by attitude, satisfaction, word of mouth (Oliver, 1977). Most businesses measure the amount of customers who revisit their product because it is the most direct form of customer feedback. Most positive feedback research focuses on the decision to purchase as a one-dimensional metric. A more modern approach is a multi-dimensional analysis with five metrics – loyalty, propensity to switch, reluctance to pay more, society’s response towards issues, and internal issues (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1996).
2.4. Long-term Orientation
According to previous studies, long-term orientation differs from the intention to repurchase because it is not a concept simply relying on the extension of time of relationship with the customer, but it is a concept of connection built on multiple interactions (Oliver, 1977). For example, the long-term orientation between the franchisee and the franchise owner is not simply determined by franchisee satisfaction, but it also depends on sales, maintenance of a close relationship with the franchise, satisfaction of the relationship, and etc. Lewis and Lambert’s (1991) study argued that the overall satisfaction of distribution channel members was a key decision factor for the development of long-term orientation. Morgan and Hunt (1994) defined that the disposition to terminate the relationship, the opposite of the intention to renew the contract, is the probability for one side to terminate the relationship in the near future. Ganesan (1994) said the key influential factors of renewing a relationship were re-investment, reputation, business performance, and mutual satisfaction. Considering these points, a franchise shop can develop a long-term orientation from performing well or by developing a mutually trusting relationship with the franchise.
For short-term orientation a franchisee is only interested in the current choices and performance; however, a franchisee that is long-term oriented is interested in accomplishing future goals and increasing long-term performance (Kim, 2006; Lee & Lee, 2009). Ganesan (1994) revealed that the key factors for building long-term orientation in customers for relationship marketing was customer commitment and reliability. Other research and studies also conclude that commitment and reliability positively influence long-term orientation (Sharma & Patterson, 1999). Korean academics such as Lee (2006) identified the quality of relationship to positively influence the intention to renew the contract in his study of F&B business franchisees, quality of relationship, and intention to renew contracts.
3. Methodology
3.1. Research Model
Based on the previous studies, the following model [Figure 1] is derived from, and few hypotheses are set up to verify the The effects of a coffee Shop franchise’s e-service quality on long-term orientation, consumer commitment and satisfaction.
[Figure 1] Research Mode
[H1] The quality of e-Service will have a significant influence on customer commitment.
[H2] The quality of e-Service will have a significant influence on long-term orientation.
[H3] The quality of e-Service will have a significant influence on customer satisfaction.
[H4] Customer commitment will have a significant influence on customer satisfaction.
[H5] Customer commitment will have a significant influence on long-term orientation.
[H6] Customer satisfaction will have a significant influence on long-term orientation.
3.2. Rule of Population and Method of Sampling
To test the hypothesis of previous research, this study seeks to measure the influential relationship between customer commitment, customer satisfaction, long-term orientation, and a coffee franchise’s e-service quality. Data collection took place for 30 days from October 1, 2015 to October 31, 2015. 500 copies of the survey were distributed, and 422 were collected. From the collected surveys, 315 had analyzable data and SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0 was used to check for credibility and factor analysis. Covariance structure analysis was conducted to verify the hypothesis of the study.
4. Results
4.1. General Properties of the Sample
Of the 315 respondents, 98(31.1%) were male, and 217(68.9%) were women. 153(51.4%) were married, and 162(51.4%) were single. 99(31.4%) were between the ages of 20~29, 93(28.6%) were between the ages of 30~39, 79(25.1%) were between the ages of 40~49, and 44(14.0%) were between the ages of 50~59. 90(28.6%) were high school graduates, 137(43.5%) were in college, 59(18.7%) were college graduates, and 29(9.2%) were graduate school graduates. 25(7.9%) received a monthly income of below 1 million won, 89(28.3%) received a monthly income between 1 million ~ 2 million won, 71(22.5%) received a monthly income between 2 million and 3 million won, 53(16.8%) received a monthly income of between 3~4 million won, and 36(11.4%) received a monthly income above 5 million won. 4(1.3%) were in the farming industry, 17(5.4%) were in the construction industry, 28(8.9%) were self-employed, 120(38.1%) had an office job, 94(28.9%) had a specialized job, and 52(16.5%) were homemakers.
[Table 1] General Properties of Sample
4.2. Credibility Verification of Concept
This research conducted a factor analysis to investigate the relationship between the e-service quality of franchise coffee shop applications, and customer commitment, customer satisfaction and long-term orientation. The factor analysis for quality of e-service, customer commitment, customer satisfaction, and long-term orientation for franchise coffee shop applications was conducted with a Varimax with Kaiser Normalization (Rotation). For accurate factor analysis, the Eigenvalue was above 1, factor loading was above 0.5, and community was above 0.5.
4.2.1. Factor Analysis of the Quality of E-Service for Coffee Franchise’s Application
The factor analysis and credibility analysis for the quality of e-service of the franchise coffee shop’s application is shown in [Table 2]. The factor analysis result for the quality of e-Service inferred that of the 14 survey questions, 5 provisions measured ‘Reliability,’ 3 measured ‘Tangibility’, 3 measured ‘Responsiveness’, 3 measured ‘Aesthetics.’Four factors were deduced. The KMO measurement value was applicable at 0.799, X² value was 1845.831, df value was 91, Battlett’s Test of Sphericity significance probability was 0.0000, indicating a relevance for factor analysis. The total correlation was 68.603% for the chosen factors. A reliability analysis was conducted for the questions assessing each factor. This study used Cronbach’s alpha to measure consistency between the questions measuring each provision. Reliability was deduced from the internal consistency of each question. The mean of the values was calculated as the factor value. The Cronbach’s alpha value for the factors of Reliability, Tangibility, Responsiveness, Aesthetics was 0.881, 0.809, 0.811, 0.839 respectively, therefore, the reliability of the factors sealed.
[Table 2] Analysis of Exploratory Factors of the E-Service of Franchise Coffee Shops
Note: Extracted values over 1 after a Varimax Rotation. b KMO=0.799, X²=1845.931, DF=91, p=0.000
The factor analysis and reliability analysis of customer commitment for franchise coffee shop application is shown in [Table 3]. The factor analysis deduced 1 factor, ‘customer commitment,’ by the analysis of 5 factors. The KMO measurement value was applicable at 0.779, the X² value was 873.155, and df value was 10. The significance probability of Battlett’s test of Sphericity was 0.000 and was applicable for factor analysis. The correlation rate for the chosen factor was 63.481%. The Cronbach’s alpha value for customer commitment was 0.871% indicating its reliability.
[Table 3] Analysis of Exploratory Factors of Customer Commitment
Note: Separated values over 1 after a Varimax rotation. b KMO=0.779, X²=873.155, DF=10, p=0.000
The factor analysis and reliability analysis of customer satisfaction for franchise coffee shop application is shown in [Table 4]. The factor analysis deduced1 factor, ‘customer commitment,’ by the analysis of 5 factors. The KMO measurement value was applicable at 0.881, the X² value was 971.417, and df value was 10. The significance probability of Battlett’s test of Sphericity was 0.000 and was applicable for factor analysis. The correlation rate for the chosen factor was 69.885%. The Cronbach’s alpha value for customer commitment was 0.821% indicating its reliability.
[Table 4] Result of Exploratory Factor Analysis for Customer Satisfaction
Note: Separated values over 1 after a Varimax. b KMO=0.881, X²=971.417, DF=10, p=0.000
The factor analysis and reliability analysis of long-term orientation for franchise coffee shop application is shown in [Table 5]. The factor analysis deduced 1 factor, ‘long-term orientation,’by the analysis of 5 factors. The KMO measurement value was applicable at 0.793, the X² value was 688.362, and df value was 10. The significance probability of Battlett’s test of Sphericity was 0.000 and was applicable for factor analysis. The correlation for the chosen factor was 59.811%. The Cronbach’s alpha value for customer commitment was 0.836% indicating its reliability.
[Table 5] Analysis of Exploratory Factors of Long-term Orientation
Note: Separated values over 1 after a Varimax rotation. b KMO=0.793, X²=688.362, DF=10, p=0.000
4.2.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis
A factor analysis was conducted in order to verify the quality of e-Service for franchise coffee shop applications, customer commitment, customer satisfaction and long-term orientation. To measure the internal consistency of the measurement index, a construct reliability and average value (AVE) was calculated. This calculation resulted in the confirmation of reliability as all the possible accommodation level (construct reliability: above 0.7, dispersion value: above 0.5) was met. The results of the AMOS analysis for the applicability of the overall research model was X²=370.737 (df=155, p=0.000), GFI=(0.904) and AGFI=(0.857), NFI=(0.903), IFI=(0.941), TLI=(0.919), CFI=(0.940)were above the recommended quotient (above 0.90), and the RMSEA=0.049(≤=0.05) suitability index exceeded the recommended quotient; therefore, there is not a difficulty in estimating the relationship between variables.
4.2.3. Correlation Analysis
A correlation analysis was conducted for the considered constructs, and the results showed that each independent variable showed a positive correlation. The dependent variable, intention of use, is not showing a correlation of above 0.7; therefore, there is minimum risk for a problem to develop. Exploratory factor analysis for each proven concept was used to measure single validity and focused validity, and distinct validity analysis was conducted to check if there actually was a difference between concepts. Generally, when each of the AVE values of the two constructs exceed the squared value of the correlation between the two constructs, it can be concluded that a distinct validity exists. Furthermore, [Table 6] shows that the e-service quality of coffee franchise applications, customer commitment, customer satisfaction, and the constructs for long-term – reliability (r=126), tangibility (r=240), responsiveness (r=-0.162), aesthetics (r=-0.168) orientation show a positive and negative relationship.
[Table 6] Analysis of Correlation between Factors
*p<0.05, **p<0.01
4.3. Hypothesis Verification
The AMOS analysis of the current research model yielded the values X²=345.771, df=153, p=0.000. The goodness of fit index including but not limited to RMR=0.064, GFI=0.911, AGFI=0.866, NFI=0.909, IFI=0.947, TLI=0.927, CFI=0.947 exceeds set values; therefore, there is no notable difficulties in determining the relationship between the variables in this study (Bae, 2007). As shown in [Table 7], it summarizes the evaluation of the 15 hypotheses regarding customer commitment, customer satisfaction, and constructs for long-term orientation to the quality of e-service for coffee franchise applications. Out of the research hypotheses, 11 hypotheses were selected for having a t-value (absolute value) of above 1.645. When looking over the relationship between responsiveness, reliability, aesthetics, tangibility and the relationship with customer commitment, the result of [Table 7]'s structure model analysis reveals that the lower dimension concepts of e-service quality, reliability (t=3.530), tangibility (t=1.956) show a significant influence on customer commitment, and responsiveness (t=-3.605) shows a significant negative influence. On the other hand, aesthetics (t=-0.265) does not seem to have a significant influence on customer commitment. Consequently, the findings partly supported [H1]. Secondly, aesthetics (t=2.200) had a significant influence on long-term orientation, but reliability (t=0.032), tangibility (t=0.031), responsiveness (t=-0.532) did not show a significant influence to long-term orientation. [H2] was also partly supported. Thirdly, reliability (t=2.881), tangibility(t=4.923), aesthetics (t=1.899) showed a positive influence on customer satisfaction; however, responsiveness (t=-2.024) showed a negative influence. Therefore, [H3] was selected. Fourthly, customer commitment (t=5.073) had a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction, but customer commitment (t=-2.804) and customer satisfaction (t=-3.094) had a negative influence on long-term orientation.
[Table 7] Result of Parameter Estimates for Research Model
5. Conclusions
This research has been derived for the purpose of verifying the influencing relationship between the e-service quality of a franchise coffee shop application with customer commitment, customer satisfaction, and long term orientation and therefore, proposing useful implications of franchise coffee shop applications. Summarizing the analysis results of this research; First, reliability and materiality, lower dimensions of e-service quality, have shown to have significant influence in customer commitment, and reactivity has shown to have a significantly negative influence. On the other hand, aesthetic impression has shown not to have a significant influence. Second, aesthetic impression, a lower dimension of e-service quality, has shown to have a significant influence on long-term orientation, and reliability, materiality, and reactivity have shown not to have significant influence on long-term orientation. Third, reliability, materiality, and aesthetic impression have shown to have significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction, and reactivity has shown to have a significantly negative influence. Fourth, customer commitment has a significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction, and customer commitment and customer satisfaction have shown to have significantly negative influence on long-term orientation.
In this context, this research provides scientific implications along with real life implications that may be applied to actual franchise coffee shop applications. Above all, the scientific implications are as follows: First, it can be stated that since the relationship between the influence of customer response and mobile e-service in regards to customer action, which has not been dealt upon in past franchise researches, has been investigated, the most significant scientific implication is that the possibility of application and expansion of the theory has been proven. Second, while most researches have dealt upon the research of a single variable, this research has investigated upon segmented relationships between multiple variables such as customer commitment, customer satisfaction, long-term orientation, and etc. upon with e-service quality. These implications may induce additional research in fields related to franchise marketing.
The real life implications of this research are as follows. The researcher believes that in regards to marketing applications, one may collect and take actions in regards to marketing based upon the influence of the application’s e-service quality on customers. Most importantly, based on the e-service quality that the customer perceives, further customer oriented, segmented marketing action plans should be collected to influence customer commitment, customer satisfaction, and long-term orientation.
Even with the implications provided above, this research is not without limitations. The recipients whom have responded to the survey based off this research were mostly 20s~30s(60.9%) due to the characteristics of smart phone application users. Differences may exist based on age groups, and therefore, future researches should research upon customer commitment, customer satisfaction, and long-term orientation segmented by age groups. Also, variables aside those mentioned and relationships to e-service quality of applications should be further investigated.