Abstract:

In Ireland the need for online vendors to understand the dimensions of e-service quality that customers value has an added impetus as Irish consumers continue to resist transacting via the Internet – using it as an information rather than a transaction medium and thus limiting its commercial potential. For example, by the end of 2002, nearly half of the Irish population had Internet access, but only 38% of Irish Internet users had made an online purchase. Studies in the UK have also found that the percentage of the Internet population who shop online has not increased in line with Internet penetration. Thus, while increases in the sheer size of the Internet population mean that more people have made an online purchase, the proportion of Internet buyers is not increasing. Therefore, in order that the commercial potential of the Internet is to be realized - a potential that is expanding dramatically as a result of advances in consumer wireless technologies and their transaction-facilitating capabilities – understanding the dimensions of service quality that Irish online consumers value is of critical importance.