Research On The Influence Mechanism Of The E-commerce Platform Sellers’ Service Quality On Competitors’ Brand Attitude And Purchase Intention

At present,the scale and influence of e-commerce platform are growing day by day,more and more retailers and manufacturers are turning to e-commerce platform and becoming unique platform sellers.Different from the traditional competitive market,the relationship between sellers and competitors in e-commerce platform is more multidimensional.The relationship between sellers’ service quality and competitors’performance is no longer a simple negative correlation,but has both competitive effect and promotion effect.As each seller is on the same platform,the high-quality service of one seller will help to attract more consumers to shop for the seller(Li,et al.,2007),so as to reduce the consumption to other competitors(competing effect);on the other hand,it will also help to attract more consumers to shop for the platform,so as to increase the patronage(promoting effect).In this context,an important question arises:what is the relationship between the service quality of sellers and the performance of competitors?There is no clear answer in the current research.Due to the lack of theoretical support,sellers face a dilemma in practice.If the service quality of the seller is too high,the cost will rise,and the price advantage will be lost,so that the competitor will gain the advantage;if the seller reduces the service quality,it may lose loyal customers,and also let the competitor gain the advantage.In this contradiction,how should sellers set reasonable service quality so as to maximize the competitive effect,reduce the promotion effect and maximize the competitive advantage?This problem has also become an important problem to be solved in the theory and practice of seller competition on e-commerce platform..Previous studies have generally believed that good service quality adopted by market players can help to improve customer satisfaction and customer loyalty,and then attract more consumers,thus negatively affecting the performance of competitors(Cronin,Taylor,1992;Zeithaml et al.,1996).However,in the special situation of platform e-commerce,good service quality of market players will have a negative impact on the performance of competitors on the one hand,and on the other hand,it will have a favorable impact,showing a non-linear relationship between the two.The measurement of seller performance can be roughly divided into financial indicators and non-financial indicators.Financial indicators include sales amount,sales volume,etc.(Chevalier,mayzlin,2006;Tang et al.,2014);non-financial indicators include brand attitude,purchase intention,customer satisfaction,customer loyalty(Sirgy,Samli,1985;Dolbec,Chebat,2013;Yoo et al.,2014)Al.,2015;Garaus,2017;Du,et al.,2019;Yu,et al.,2019).This paper mainly uses questionnaire survey method to collect data,only non-financial indicators can be used to measure seller performance.Moreover,this paper mainly adopts the method of virtual situation questionnaire,and the indicators of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are not suitable for this study.Therefore,this paper mainly uses brand attitude and purchase intention as the measurement index of competitors’performance.Based on the above reasons,from the joint perspective of marketing and sociology,this study constructs a nonlinear correlation model between seller’s service quality and competitor’s performance,and analyzes the influence of seller’s service quality on competitors’ brand attitude and purchase intention on e-commerce platform,as well as the intermediary mechanism and boundary conditions.On the basis of literature analysis,this paper uses the methods of literature review and in-depth interview to design the measurement components of the relationship between the service quality of platform e-commerce sellers and the brand attitude and purchase intention of competitors.Through the method of virtual situation survey,data are collected,and based on the survey results,the final measurement scale is formed.At the same time,after analyzing the qualitative data,this paper constructs the basic relationship framework of platform sellers’ service quality to competitors’ brand attitude and purchase intention under the guidance of theory.And further through the virtual situation survey method and data analysis,the empirical test of the theoretical model is carried out,and the final conclusion is obtained.The research conclusions and innovations are as follows:Firstly,this paper explores the positive impact of the seller’s service quality on the competitors’ brand attitude under the platform e-commerce service situation.It can be seen that the seller’s providing high-quality services can not only cause competitive effects on other competitors,but also promote the competitors.There is a non-linear relationship between the seller’s service quality and the competitors’ performance It is a useful supplement to the existing research conclusions on seller competition.This study discusses the multidimensional characteristics of platform sellers’ competitive relationship,which is out of the previous single direction competitive relationship,and helps to stimulate the sense of cooperation between platform sellers,to ensure that all parties can jointly promote the vigorous development of platform e-commerce and maximize individual interests.Secondly,in the aspect of intermediary mechanism,this paper reveals the intermediary mechanism in which the service quality of sellers has a positive impact on the brand attitude of competitors in the context of platform e-commerce.It is found that perceived revenue,perceived risk,identity of sellers and platform identity completely mediate the relationship between service quality of sellers and brand attitude of competitors.Therefore,in the context of platform e-commerce,the key to the promotion effect of the seller’s service quality for competitors lies in that the seller’s service quality changes the buyer’s consumption concept,cultivates the buyer’s consumption habits,and thus expands the overall market scale.Existing research has shown that in the context of platform e-commerce,sellers’ behavior has a strong externality,which not only affects their own performance,but also exerts influence on the performance of peers(Wang Xuhui,Zhang Qilin,2017A).This paper further reveals the internal mechanism of this externality,thus enriching and expanding the existing research.The study provides a reference for the management and operation of the platform by explaining the competitive relationship of the platform seller group,and provides a basis for the platform enterprises to encourage healthy competition and achieve efficient management,which has important theoretical significance and practical value.Thirdly,in terms of boundary conditions,search products and experience products,collectivism and individualism play a regulatory role.This paper finds that collectivism can negatively regulate the relationship between platform identity and competitors’ brand attitude.It can be seen that there is an alternative relationship between platform identity and collectivism,that is,in the process of evaluating competitors through specific sellers’services,consumers adhering to collectivism have the same behavioral preferences as consumers with high platform identity.The conclusion shows that the relationship between platform identity and competitors’ brand attitudes shows different characteristics in different cultural backgrounds,and also shows that the behavior of collectivist consumers can be manipulated to a certain extent,that is to say,through the cultivation of platform identity to reach the users of collectivist concepts,which promotes the existing research conclusions.It has certain reference significance for the development of the current platform e-commerce policy-making in China.At the same time,this paper also investigates the specific practice for our country to provide a targeted reference.Fourthly,in terms of boundary conditions,the regulation of buyer’s professional ability and product involvement.It is found that the buyer’s professional ability and product involvement can regulate the seller’s service quality and competitor’s performance model.It can be seen that the mechanism framework between the seller’s service quality and the competitor’s brand attitude and purchase intention under the platform e-commerce situation constructed in this paper is also largely regulated by the buyer’s characteristics and the e-commerce purchase experience characteristics,thus confirming the variability of the mechanism framework.The conclusion is helpful to enrich and perfect the theoretical framework of this paper.In the specific application framework to solve practical problems,it is necessary to make relevant decisions according to the characteristics of buyers and e-commerce purchasing experience,rather than following the existing theoretical framework rigidly,to develop marketing measurement in the future,to divide the target customers,to distinguish the product types,so as to provide a theoretical basis for the targeted development of competitive strategies.To sum up,this paper takes the competitor’s brand attitude and purchase intention as the measurement index of competitor’s performance,carries out relevant research from the perspective of the positive impact of platform e-commerce seller’s service quality on competitor’s performance,and tests the relationship between platform e-commerce seller’s service quality and competitor’s brand attitude and purchase intention.It provides a theoretical basis for the platform type e-commerce competition mechanism and future cross platform research.