Exploring the Impact of E-Service Quality, Trust, and Social Media on Consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty

This study investigates the combined impact of e-service quality, trust, and social media engagement on consumer satisfaction and loyalty within the context of Pakistan’s SME e-commerce sector. With the rapid digital transformation and growing importance of online shopping, this research addresses critical gaps in understanding how digital service variables interrelate and affect long-term consumer behavior. The study responds to challenges in Pakistan’s e-commerce ecosystem, such as low digital trust, and inconsistent service quality, offering insights into strategies for improving consumer engagement and retention. Mediation and moderation effects were also tested to understand the nuanced relationships among constructs. The findings reveal that trust and social media engagement significantly influence consumer satisfaction, which in turn impacts loyalty. Trust emerged as the strongest predictor of satisfaction, while service quality showed a weaker and even negative direct effect. These results suggest that satisfaction acts as a mediating factor, and trust is critical for fostering consumer retention in the Pakistani e-commerce context. This study makes a theoretical contribution by challenging conventional SERVQUAL and Expectation-Confirmation models, revealing that trust and post-purchase strategies are more influential than service quality in predicting loyalty within developing markets. From a practical standpoint, the research offers actionable insights for Pakistani SMEs to prioritize trust-building mechanisms, such as secure digital payments, transparent policies, and effective social CRM strategies.