ABSTRACT
With the proliferation of electronic commerce, more and more businesses are trying to conduct transactions with their customers on the Internet. According to Forrester Research, the online retail market is predicted to reach U.S.$184 billion by the year 2004. However, these e-businesses are realizing that their successes are less determined by a traditional business model (e.g., low prices) than by delivering top-notch, repeatable service that creates satisfied customers (Zemke and Connellan 2000). As the novelty of the Internet continues to wear off, e-businesses that want to maintain a sustainable advantage in the virtual world must try to differentiate by emphasizing superior or “knock-your-socks-off” e-Service (Zeithaml et al. 2000).
