Online buying behaviour during and post-COVID-19: evidence from an emerging market

This study aims to forecast the consumers' future online shopping intentions after the COVID-19 pandemic through consumers' insights and behaviours with their online shopping experience. Therefore, the study attempts to examine the mediating role of e-customer satisfaction on expected e-service quality and perceived e-service quality that was conducted in the B2C context within the booming e-commerce industry in Morocco. This study employed a conceptual framework that combines factors from the American Customer Satisfaction Index and factors from the planned behaviour theory to evaluate customer satisfaction in the e-context as a mediator in several relationships. The study used 411 respondents to evaluate the suggested model using SmartPLS. The empirical results provide evidence on the significant impact of e-customer satisfaction on attitude towards online shopping, while it also has a mediating effect on its antecedents; expected e-service quality and perceived service quality. The prevailed framework confirms that all relationships between the constructs; expected e-service quality, perceived e-service quality, attitude toward online and e-customer satisfaction are highly significant. Moreover, attitude toward online has a significant positive impact on consumers switching intentions.