How Complaint Handling Procedures Influence Consumer Decisions to Shop Online?

When online shopping increases, the number of risks and complaints associated with online transactions will also rise. The importance of maintaining and improving Business-To-Consumer (B2C) e-business competitiveness by adequately addressing consumers’ complaints has been acknowledged. Yet the issue of how the complaint handling procedures are used to influence consumers’ decisions to shop online has yet to be adequately understood. This study focuses on the influence of complaint handling procedures on consumers’ decisions to shop online from both the online consumer and merchant perspectives. The authors found that complaint handling procedures have more impact on consumer confidence and trust and therefore affect their decision to shop online, especially when accessible and responsive complaint handling procedures are required.