Investigating the complex drivers of loyalty in e-commerce settings Norizan Mohd Kassim and Salaheldin Ismail Summary Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceived service quality, satisfaction and trust determine loyalty in e-commerce settings at the level of construct dimensions. Design/methodology/approach – A survey method approach was used in this study. To test the dimensionality of the perceived service quality, all the 20 items were analyzed using oblique rotation and varimax rotation. The hypotheses were tested using the structural equations modeling. Findings – Empirical results indicate that only assurance does appear to play an imperative role in building trust as suggested by many authors. Of particular interest is the finding that word-of-mouth (WOM) is an antecedent of trust and intention. It becomes clear that WOM is a relatively important driver of trust and intention in e-commerce settings. Research limitations/implications – The study may also be delimited to Qatar only. Further research could complement it by exploring the study variables and other variables not mentioned in depth here. Practical implications – Satisfaction, which contributes considerably to loyalty, can be increased by providing an attractive user interface, and an easy to use and interesting system. Specifically, the positive word-of-mouth decreases the need for marketing expenses and can increase revenue if new customers are attracted. Online retailers should direct their before- and after-sales service mechanisms towards developing consumers’ willingness to get engaged in positive WOM in favour of the company and its services. Originality/value – The major contribution of the study is that it is the first attempt to investigate the impact of word of mouth on trust and intention ahead of previous studies. Keywords SERVQUAL, Customer satisfaction, Trust, Electronic commerce, Qatar Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction Loyal customers are indeed crucial to business survival (Semejin et al., 2005). For that reason many companies use defensive marketing strategies to increase their market share and profitability by maximizing customer retention (Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006). Although, traditionally, more effort is dedicated to offensive strategies, research has shown that defensive strategies can be more profitable through increased cross selling, possibly at higher prices, and positive words of mouth (WOM) communication. In e-commerce setting, at its highest level, companies can use the Internet to deliver products and services to their customers. They can have mutually rewarding relationships with customers they have never seen, met, or spoke to. The entire relationship can successfully exist in cyberspace. With the technology available today, they can sell their products or services over the Internet, respond to customer questions, offer additional products and services based on previous purchases, and evaluate customers’ satisfaction with their offerings – all without dealing with the customer in person. Leveraging the internet can free up resources to deliver higher levels of value to customers in new ways. The internet PAGE 56 j MEASURING BUSINESS EXCELLENCE j VOL. 13 NO. 1 2009, pp. 56-71, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1368-3047 DOI 10.1108/13683040910943054 Norizan Mohd Kassim and Salaheldin Ismail are both based in the Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business and Economics, University of Qatar, Doha, Qatar.