Assessing the Impacts of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Service Quality on the Business Performance of Online Sellers

Norsafinas Md. Saad¹ , Christine Ho Lee Xin^2
1,2School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

ABSTRACT

The rapid growth of the Internet has dramatically changed the retail trend and consumer shopping behavior. In fact, the ways customers view and buy have somewhat shifted from physical store base to online stores. This development has subsequently changed customer shopping experience, habit and preference as customers nowadays spend a lot of time browsing and buying products online. Many retailers and individual sellers have grabbed this opportunity to start a business, increase customer reach and promote their brands and products to a wider market. Despite the fact that online market is growing, the online retail sales in Malaysia is relatively low compared to other countries. This situation shows that online sales and business performance in Malaysia are not as grand as other countries. From the research context, there have been limited studies that integrate the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and service quality (SERVQUAL), specifically from the perspectives of individual online sellers. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to bring to light on how EO and SERVQUAL affect the business performance of online sellers in Malaysia. Questionnaires were sent out electronically to Lazada and Shoppe online sellers and 146 usable responses were received from the sellers. Based on the multiple regression analysis, out of six, four factors (proactiveness, risktaking, reliability, responsiveness) have significant relationships with online sellers‟ business performance. The regression analysis also shows that the reliability of online sellers comes out as the strongest determinant of their business performance.

Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation; service quality; business performance; online sellers