CHATBOT QUALITY ALONE DOES NOT CREATE LOYALTY: SATISFACTION AND TRUST AS TRANSMISSION MECHANISMS
Published:
2026-09-18Downloads
Abstract
Chatbots have become a primary customer-service channel on Indonesian e-commerce platforms, yet evidence on how chatbot service quality is converted into customer loyalty remains limited. This study examines the effect of the service quality of Tokopedia's chatbot on e-loyalty and tests customer satisfaction and e-customer trust as parallel mediating mechanisms. A quantitative explanatory cross-sectional design was applied through an online survey of Tokopedia users; 297 responses were collected and 235 passed the screening criterion of prior chatbot use. All constructs were specified as reflective higher-order constructs measured by 23 items on a seven-point semantic differential scale, and the data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. Service quality has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction, e-customer trust and e-loyalty, and both mediators significantly increase e-loyalty. Both indirect paths are significant, and together they account for roughly three quarters of the total effect of service quality on e-loyalty, whereas the direct effect is significant but weak in magnitude. The model explains 65.0% of the variance in e-loyalty. The findings indicate that chatbot quality builds loyalty mainly by producing satisfying and trustworthy interactions rather than directly.
Keywords:
Chatbot Customer Satisfaction E-customer Trust E-loyalty Service QualityReferences
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Copyright (c) 2026 Prasetyo Hartanto, Vanessa Gaffar, Lili Adi Wibowo, Mokh Adib Sultan
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