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An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
In the last decade, service providers have realized the importance of developing an effective web site. [38] Grewal and Levy (2009) stated that the use of the internet by almost all consumers and business segments has tremendously changed the retailing marketplace. [35] Furrer and Sollberger (2007, p. 106) distinguished between the dynamics and evolution of the services marketing literature and found that "relationship marketing" and "technology" are the two themes "with recent popularity and a healthy growth rate". [73] Rajamma et al. (2007) reported that consumers associate services with the online shopping mode and physical goods with the traditional bricks-and-mortar outlets. These emphasize the importance of investigating online consumer behavior in services marketing. Consistently, [40] Hackman et al. (2006) stated that there is still much to explore about consumer behavior in the emerging field of online services.
In traditional services marketing, the interpersonal relationship between a consumer and service employee was one of the most important elements in forming consumers' attitudes and impacting their behaviors. In online services marketing, however, the interpersonal interactions have been replaced by technology and limited to electronic interaction ([44] Holloway and Beatty, 2008), and consumers' attitudes and behaviors are influenced by web site characteristics such as ease of navigation ([43], [44] Holloway and Beatty, 2003, 2008). Instead of interacting directly with service employees, consumers surf and navigate the company's web site to evaluate the service.
Over the last decade researchers and practitioners attempted to explain how service providers "can best design and deliver a quality encounter" in online contexts ([19] Cho and Menor, 2010). Store environments and atmospheric cues are known as important marketing input to impact consumers' purchasing decision ([4] Baker, 1987; [55] Mattila and Wirtz, 2008). In a review of the literature, [86] Turley and Milliman (2000) reported over 60 published articles that found significant associations between store atmospheric cues and consumer behavior variables ([22] Dailey, 2004). In online contexts, studies reported the influence of site atmospheric cues such as site informativeness, effectiveness, and entertainment (e.g. [23] Davis et al. , 2008; [41] Hausman and Siekpe, 2009; [76] Richard, 2005) on consumers' attitudes and behaviors. In this study, consistent...