The Mediating Effect of Online Shopping Platform Attributes on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Among Chinese Student Online Shoppers

Abstract

This study investigates the mediating effect of Taobao online shopping platform attributes on customer satisfaction and loyalty among Chinese student online shoppers. A quantitative, correlational research design was employed, utilizing Path Analysis with Bootstrapping for mediation analysis to examine both the direct and indirect effects of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty, with Taobao platform attributes serving as the mediating variable. Mean analysis, Spearman's rank correlations, and the Path Analysis framework with Bootstrapping were adopted for data analysis. A total of 1,690 students participated in the study. Results revealed that information quality, product delivery, and perceived security consistently emerged as the top three factors most strongly correlated with customer satisfaction. Moreover, information quality, privacy concerns, perceived security, product variety, and product delivery significantly mediated the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the context of online retail, with information quality identified as the strongest mediating factor.