Online customer experience and online customer engagement with e-commerce: Comparing online and omnichannel consumer journeys

Abstract The objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between online customer experience (OCX), online customer engagement (OCE), and behavioural intention and advocacy in an e-commerce context, comparing online and omnichannel consumer journeys. The SOR paradigm is used. A survey was designed for customers who shopped in an e-commerce store and followed three different types of consumer journeys. A multi-group analysis was conducted. The results of the multigroup analysis show that all the causal relationships of the SOR model are fulfilled and that the consumer journey is a moderating variable. Most of these effects have hardly been investigated in the literature. In addition, the high predictive power of the model on behavioural intentions and advocacy was tested. Finally, two effects are identified: (a) omnichannel journey strengthens behavioural OCE and strong advocacy, and (b) visiting multiple channels strengthens the impact of OCE on behavioural intentions.