Re-visiting the E-SERVQUAL and Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory in the Context of the Service Industry in Malaysia

The SERVQUAL model has been used for several years to illustrate the relationships between tangible, assurance, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, and customer satisfaction. This paper posits that the SERVQUAL model requires an extension to better explain the relationships between the factors that influence customer satisfaction. The main difference is that the revised SERVQUAL includes the dimensions that apply to the online service industry or e-commerce, thus the proposed e-SERVQUAL comprises fulfillment, efficiency, privacy, and system availability. In this paper, e-SERVQUAL pinpointed two underpinning theories which are e-SERVQUAL and Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory (EDT). This study delves into the foundation, expansion, and evolvement of both theories particularly in the online food delivery service industry in Malaysia. The main objective of this paper is to present the reviews of the literature on e-SERVQUAL and Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory on the relationship between the elements that influence e-customer satisfaction. The study contributes to developing and improving the model that defines service quality in a digital service context. Correspondingly, it emphasizes the robustness of the theories and further enriches the academic literature.