Linking service quality, value, and loyalty in the V-o-D service context through a review of literature

Abstract

Video-on-demand (V-o-D) service is quickly establishing its presence in the online entertainment sector. Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand the parameters used by consumers to evaluate V-o-D service quality. Though the service literature has an ample of studies discussing the service quality of various service sector, and their corresponding effects on consumer behaviour, little is known about the dimensions of V-o-D service quality. We address this gap by conducting a robust review of literature to identify the prospective parameters attributing to V-o-D service quality and propose their influence on various dimensions of consumer value such as functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional. Thereafter, the effect of value on loyalty dimensions such as conative and action is examined. These inter-construct relationships explored and identified through the literature review are validated through interview of a small sample of V-o-D consumers.

Keywords:

• video-on-demand
• entertainment service
• service quality
• value
• loyalty

1. Introduction

Tijo, Victor and Amit are colleagues and flat-mates who have recently joined a firm in New Delhi. Coming from different parts of India, they were discussing what to do after work every day in a new place. While they had several options like visiting places, partying, developing a hobby, the trio settled on web-streaming apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu etc., considering the convenience, content option and subscription offers.

The above example, though fictional, is not idiosyncratic. In fact, it is a basic intention of humans to look for refreshment beyond their daily routine (Castle, 2008) and hence take up leisure activities such as games and sports or indulge in entertainment through service of radio, movies, theatre (Katherine Chen, 2019). The newest inclusion to this range of entertainment services happens to be the video-on-demand (henceforth: V-o-D) through Over-the-top medium (henceforth: OTT) (Sadana & Sharma, 2021), such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+HotStar, among many others.

The V-o-D service provides programs on a wide range of topics and novel contents, otherwise rarely available in the traditional media such as pay TV, radio, theatre, or cinema, and hence caters to a large category of audience concurrently (Shim & Kim, 2018). As such, high growth is forecasted for the V-o-D service in India, where it has shown phenomenal growth of 72% in the period 2014–2020 (Statista, 2022). In other countries such as Korea, China, Brazil, and Mexico, V-o-D happens to be the principal contributor from the media and entertainment sector to the GDP of those respective countries (Samtani & Kohli, 2020). Hence, we find that the growth of V-o-D has been encouraging so far and that it is here to stay and compete strongly with the traditional media for the consumers’ share of mind and wallet. However, in consumer marketing, any kind of initial growth can fall flat in the long run, if the marketers do not consider the consumers’ assessment of the service and, revise and improve their offerings accordingly (Kotler & Armstrong, 2021).

Therefore, it becomes imperative for the marketers to know about the attributes through which the consumers evaluate the performance or quality of the V-o-D service. To cite an example, within the competition of Netflix versus Amazon Prime video, the marketers should know depending upon which parameters the consumers compare the quality of V-o-D service, offered by these two competitors. If a particular service provider is being preferred to offer better quality of service, consumers would attach more value to it. Eventually, a higher value might lead to higher loyalty, following the classical marketing linkage of quality–value–loyalty as opined by Kumar and Reinartz (2006). This in turn would have significant economic pay-off for the service providers.

Though extant literature has witnessed a vast number of studies involving exploration and establishment of attributes of service quality across various service sectors, such as, Parasuraman et al. (1988) (retail sector), Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) (online retail), Blut et al. (2015) (electronic service quality) or Noor et al. (2021) (artificial intelligence), there is still a dearth of research regarding the attributes of V-o-D service quality, which is an amalgamation of Internet and entertainment service. Extant literature also holds a fragmented opinion regarding the conceptualization of value. Further, the loyalty exhibited by a consumer would invariably differ depending upon the product/service the consumer is indulged with.

Hence, the objectives of this study are—first, to identify the prospective attributes of service quality of V-o-D through review of extant literature. Second, through review of literature, we also try to identify the proclivity and corresponding dimensions of value, and type of loyalty, as could be applicable in the current context of V-o-D service. Third, we postulate few propositions relating the identified attributes of V-o-D service quality, value, and loyalty through logical arguments from prior literature. We validated the applicability of these logics in the current context through interviews of consumers of V-o-D. Finally, we provide a framework depicting the propositions.

The remaining of this article comprises the method of selection of literature for review, followed by the review of literature and identification of attributes pertaining to the three constructs (i.e. service quality, value, and loyalty), propositions, and framework, and finally, the article culminates with the discussion of the contributions of this study, limitations, and prospects for future research.

2. Selection of literature

In order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the extant research in the domain of service quality, value, and loyalty, a detailed review of the studies pertaining to each construct, as well as empirical studies concerning the service quality–value–loyalty relationship was necessary. Gamal (2010) opined that researchers use journals to obtain, synthesize, and publish their superlative research findings. Following this opinion, in the current study we tried incorporating the extant research, which have contributed significantly to the theoretical as well as practical aspect of the service quality–value–loyalty relationship. For this purpose, we conducted an online literature review using a five-stage protocol as per Tranfield et al. (2003). These protocols demonstrate the criteria for inclusion and exclusion of articles in this current study.

First, several keywords encompassing the three constructs were finalized with due consultations with experts (both industry and academic). These were “service quality,” “service performance,” “SERVQUAL,” “SERVPERF” pertaining to the service quality construct. Corresponding to the value, keywords such as “value,” “perceived value,” and “consumption value” were used. “Behavioral intention” and “loyalty” were used for the construct loyalty. Considering the backdrop of the current research, special emphasis was given to entertainment and performing arts—service. So, another set of keywords, namely, “entertainment,” “performing arts,” “web-streaming,” “video-on-demand,” “V-o-D,” “over-the-top,” “OTT,” “binge-watch,” was also used.

Second, integrating these sets of keywords, separate searches were conducted for the different constructs within prominent databases such as Scopus, Web-of-Science, ProQuest, EBSCO, Science-Direct, and Google Scholar. The periods of search were 1985 to February 2022 for service quality, 1988 to February 2022 for value, and 1990 to February 2022 for loyalty. The starting point was considered according to the onset of the three seminal studies, Parasuraman et al. (1985), Zeithaml (1988) and Reichheld and Sasser (1990), corresponding to the three constructs (i.e. service quality, value, and loyalty), respectively. The period of search for entertainment and performing arts—service was last 15 years (i.e. 2008 to 2022). The end point was February 2022 after which we stopped literature search. Through the first two steps, around 6000 articles were retrieved.

Third, as different databases were used to synthesize the extant scholarly outputs, we removed the duplicate articles that had accumulated using Mendeley desktop software, bringing down the total number of unique articles to a little more than 5000. Fourth, to maintain the quality of the review only scholarly articles written in English and published either in Scopus or Web-of-Science indexed journals were retained following the suggestion of Cerchione and Esposito (2016). Further, following the journal elimination criteria used by prominent researchers such as Goel et al. (2019), conference proceedings, presentations, dissertations, and working papers not indexed in Scopus or Web-of-Science were excluded. These resulted to a further reduction in the number of articles to around 900. (Please see figure 1, for the detailed classification pertaining to the different databases mentioned in second and fourth step).

Fifth, as per Zorzini et al. (2015) an organic search through cross-referencing was conducted from these retrieved 900 articles to check any missing quality papers. As a result of these, the number of articles slightly increased to one thousand and sixty-eight. Next, the abstract of these set of one thousand and sixty-eight articles were carefully read and checked whether the articles’ focus was on the three constructs in question and their inter-relationships (Baliga et al., 2021). Several articles without proper emphasis on the three constructs or the service quality–value–loyalty relationship were deemed irrelevant and were excluded. Few articles without primary focus on entertainment services were eliminated too. Altogether, the number of articles got reduced to 160. Further, these 160 articles were fully studied following Sunder M et al. (2018) and only those studies which provided significant theoretical contributions were retained resulting into 45 articles. This decision was finalized with due consultation with the same set of experts mentioned earlier. Figure 1 provides a summary of these steps undertaken.

Next, in the subsequent section, we present and discuss the pioneering studies from this entire pool of articles and draw the fabrics of propositions furnished later in this present research.

3. Literature review

3.1. Service quality

Research pertaining to service quality constitutes an important stream of knowledge and has been extensively studied across different service contexts (Noor et al., 2021). Parasuraman et al. (1988) conceptualized service quality as the difference in-between service expectations and perception by the customers, but this operationalization was contested by Cronin and Taylor (1992) suggesting theoretical as well as empirical inadequacy. Instead, Cronin and Taylor (1992) tried measuring service quality on the basis of perception of service performance only. This triggered an intense debate within the academia concerning the conceptualization of service quality and witnessed several counter-intuitive research (Cronin & Taylor, 1994; Parasuraman et al., 1994; Teas, 1993, 1994). Despite the issue of conceptualization, service quality continues to be the seminal concept for evaluating the merit of any service and finds immense importance even in contemporary research (Kesharwani et al., 2021).

With the advent of the new millennium, several service sectors evolved with greater dependency on Internet and electronic media and lesser reliance on physical service. Pioneering such research, Yoo and Donthu (2001) developed SITEQUAL, a scale to measure the service quality of Internet shopping websites. Subsequently, they determined the impact of the service quality on the online behaviour of the visitors. Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) argued the importance of service quality on customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty in product as well as service sectors. In pursuit, they developed ETailQ, a psychometric instrument to evaluate the service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty of online retail stores. Parasuraman et al. (2005) used the theoretical base of means-end framework to conceptualize E-S-QUAL, an instrument for measuring service quality of websites, concerned with online shopping of customers. However, the discourse regarding the existence of any holistic instrument measuring website service quality was yet to settle. In order to resolve this ongoing debate, Loiacono et al. (2007) used the concepts of TRA¹ and TAM,² in developing WEBQUAL—an instrument to be used by customers to assess websites. Udo et al. (2010) argued that the extant research concerning Internet service quality is contradictory and therefore envisaged a fresh attempt to (i) develop and test an instrument concerning web service quality and (ii) explore the influence of perceived web service quality on user satisfaction and their intention to shop online. Blut (2016) conducted one empirical study in which the researchers conceptualized the electronic service quality as a second-order formative structure with five attributes in the first order, namely: (i) website design (ii) fulfilment (iii) customer service (iv) security/privacy. Phonthanukitithaworn et al. (2021) conducted an empirical study investigating the travel agent’s web service quality and found four attributes such as—security of website, special deal, convenience of website, and booking flexibility.

Noor et al. (2021) conducted a qualitative investigation to understand the service quality of artificial intelligence (AI) service agents such as chat-bots and virtual assistants. In table 1 we furnish highlights of the few major studies concerning service quality arranged according to contexts. The table also projects the dimensions/attributes of service quality explored in these studies categorized into utilitarian³ or hedonic⁴ dimensions according to the opinions of Childers et al. (2001).

Table 1. Service quality attributes investigated in previous studies (Source: Literature review)

Authors	Context	Number of dimensions	Dimensions of service quality
Parasuraman et al. (1988)	Service and Retail organizations.	Five	Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, Responsiveness (All utilitarian)
Cronin and Taylor (1992)**	Service industry.	Five	Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, Responsiveness (All utilitarian)
Teas (1993)**	Retail stores	Five	Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, Responsiveness (All Utilitarian)
Parasuraman et al. (1994)**	Service and Retail organizations.	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Cronin and Taylor (1994)**	Service industry.	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Teas (1994)**	Service industry.	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Yoo and Donthu (2001)	Internet shopping site.	Four	Utilitarian—Ease-of-use, Processing Speed, and Security Hedonic—Aesthetic Design
Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003)	Etail or Online retail Industry	Four	Hedonic—Website design Utilitarian—Customer service, Reliability, Privacy
Parasuraman et al. (2005)	Online shopping web-sites.	Two sets—total seven	First set- Efficiency, Fulfilment, System availability, Privacy. Second set- Responsiveness, Compensation, Contact (All utilitarian)
Loiacono et al. (2007)	Web site (multiple industries)	Twelve	Utilitarian—Informational fit-to-task, Tailored information, Trust, Response Time, ease of understanding, intuitive operations, innovativeness, consistent image, on-line completeness, relative advantage Hedonic—visual appeal, emotional appeal
Udo et al. (2010)	Web service Quality	Five	Utilitarian—Individual PC skill difference; Service convenience; Perceived risk; Web service quality Hedonic—Website content;
Blut (2016)	Electronic service Quality	Four	Hedonic—Website design Utilitarian—Fulfilment, Customer Service, Security/Privacy
Kesharwani et al. (2021)	Information system service	Five	Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, Responsiveness (All utilitarian)
Phonthanukitithaworn et al. (2021)	Travel Agent’s Web Service Quality	Four	Security of website, Special deal, Convenience of website, Booking flexibility (All utilitarian)
Noor et al. (2021)	Artificial Intelligence based services	Six	Utilitarian -Reliability, Responsiveness, Availability, Personalization, Security Hedonic—Aesthetics

** Refers to the series of studies, where different sets of researchers debated about the conceptualization of service quality as the difference of expectation and perception, or simply the perception of performance.

3.2. Entertainment services

Contrary to these exhibited scholarly endeavours in various other service industries, research concerning service quality in the entertainment service context has been scant. Hume (2008) conducted a research in the backdrop of Australian theatre attending audience and affirmed the importance of service quality on customer retention of entertainment and performing arts service. Through this study, the author demonstrates the influence of service quality, perceived value, and satisfaction in predicting the repurchase intent of customers. Tan and Chou (2008) studied the impact of mobile entertainment service quality and perceived technology compatibility on perceived usefulness. The study explains the importance of the alignment of service quality attributes with the functional usage of mobile phones. Hume and Sullivan Mort (2010) conducted yet another research in the backdrop of physical theatres and tried clarifying the inter-relationship in between core and peripheral service quality and their corresponding effect on appraisal emotion, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention. The researchers were of the view that knowledge regarding this relationship chain is crucial in retaining customers. However, all of these studies were structurally different from the V-o-D service, which is a blend of Internet and entertainment services. Lately, few researchers have tried studying “Binge-Watching”, a phenomenon related to V-o-D. In one such study, Merikivi et al. (2018), explored the impact of “Binge-Watching” phenomenon on users’ satisfaction. The results show a weak influence in between the studied variables. Flayelle et al. (2017) and Flayelle et al. (2019) conducted two studies in the domain of “Binge-Watching”. The first study dealt with qualitative investigation of the motivations of “Binge-Watching”, while the latter dealt with the quantitative validation of the motivations explored in the earlier study. Nanda and Banerjee (2020) studied “Binge-watching” through the lens of usage and gratification theory, where the authors investigated the need for “Binge-watching” and gratifications received from “Binge-watching”. The results indicate that “technology related needs” significantly affects the gratifications received from “Binge-watching”.

In Table 2 we furnish highlights about the research, corresponding to the entertainment service domain, arranged according to the context or phenomenon of study. The attributes have also been similarly categorized into utilitarian and hedonic, as in Table 1

Table 2. Studies related to entertainment and “performing arts” service (Source: Literature review by the authors)

Authors	Context	Number of variables	Variables studied
Hume (2008)	Performing Arts.	Two	Hedonic—Core services (act, stage, show, actors) Utilitarian—Peripheral services (access, parking and transport, convenience)
Tan and Chou (2008)	Mobile Information and Entertainment.	Seven	Utilitarian—Perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use Hedonic—Content, Variety, Feedback, Experimentation, Personalization.
Hume and Sullivan Mort (2010)	Binge-Watching	Two	Hedonic—Core services (act, stage, show, actors) Utilitarian—Peripheral services (access, parking and transport, convenience)
Flayelle et al. (2017)	Binge-Watching	Eleven	Coping/Escapism, Enrichment, Emotional Attachment, Social, Loss of Control, Engagement, Dependency, Desire/Savouring, Positive Emotions, Binge Watching, Pleasure Preservation (all hedonic)
Merikivi et al. (2018)	Binge-Watching	Two	Cognitive Involvement, Behavioural Involvement (both hedonic)
Flayelle et al. (2019)	Binge-Watching and TV series watching	Eleven	Coping/Escapism, Enrichment, Emotional Attachment, Social, Loss of Control, Engagement, Dependency, Desire/Savouring, Positive Emotions, Binge Watching, Pleasure Preservation (all hedonic)
Nanda and Banerjee (2020)	Binge-Watching	Eight	Utilitarian—Technology Navigability, Time Killer, Hedonic—Technology Modal Experience, Para social interaction, Entertainment, Flow, Escape, Gratification

Through the discussion so far, it can be noted that the prevalent research pertaining to Internet or web service quality predominantly comprises utilitarian attributes, whereas studies concerning entertainment service predominantly comprises hedonic attributes. This makes the case of V-o-D unique—an amalgamation of entertainment service facilitated through Internet (OTT), interesting. To the best of our knowledge, extant literature lacks an explicit understanding of the attributes necessary for evaluating V-o-D service quality. However, if the advocacy of researchers such as Scarpi (2012) were to be followed, the presence of both utilitarian and hedonic attributes is important in measurement of service quality of any Internet or electronic service. Hence, based on the logics discussed so far, it can be reckoned that the V-o-D service quality should be assessed through both utilitarian and hedonic attributes. As empirical exploration and validation of the exact attributes is beyond the scope of the current study, the two broad attributes of V-o-D service quality that stands identified are “Utilitarian” and “Hedonic”. As such, these two attributes would be considered and used in the subsequent phases of this study, including the propositions.

3.3. Value

Value creation has been acknowledged to be important for the growth and sustenance of any industry (Zeithaml, 1988). It has also been proved to be an important outcome of service quality (Zeithaml et al., 1996) as well as a crucial precursor to consumer loyalty (Harris & Goode, 2004). However, conceptualization of value has remained fragmented over the years, having both unidimensional and multidimensional proclivities.

Zeithaml (1988) coined the construct as “perceived value” and defined it as the overall assessment of the utility of a product by the customer, based on perceptions of sacrifices and benefits. Thus, it was operationalized uni-dimensionally as the trade-off in between the salient give and get components. Cronin et al. (1997) proposed the construct value as the central character in the consumers’ decision-making process and attempted to refine the conceptualization of the construct. As such, these researchers termed the construct as “service value” and operationalized it as the summation of service quality and sacrifice, measured in terms of monetary or non-monetary prices and risk, thereby contradicting the ideation bestowed by Zeithaml (1988). Contrary to these unidimensional approaches, the literature has also witnessed the proclivity of multi-dimensional structuring of the construct value.

Sheth et al. (1991) furnished the theory of consumption values aimed at explaining the consumers’ decision-making process. According to this theory, the choice of a consumer is made up of five separate and independent value dimensions, each of which contributes differentially to the choice making process. The five dimensions are—functional, social, emotional, conditional, and epistemic values which have their roots spread across economics, sociology, and psychology. Babin et al. (1994) developed a two-dimensional scale, comprising of utilitarian and hedonic elements projecting the importance of both functional (physical or economic) or non-functional (emotional) aspects in consumer behaviour studies. Holbrook (1999) proposed a theoretical framework reflecting three sets of value dimensions: (1) Extrinsic (functional) versus Intrinsic (self-justifying) (2) Self oriented (seeking value exclusively for one’s own sake) versus Other-Oriented (seeking value for others viz. friends, family etc.) and, (3) Active (value is active when it entails some physical or mental manipulation of some tangible or intangible object) versus Reactive (results from apprehending, appreciating, or otherwise responding to some object). Woodruff (1997) opined that superior customer value should be the major source of competitive advantage instead of quality management, re-engineering, downsizing, or restructuring of the organization. Hence the author coined the construct as customer value and defined it as “customer’s perceived preference for and evaluation of those product—attributes, attribute performance, and consequences arising from use, that facilitate (or block) achieving the customer’s goal and purpose in use situations” (Woodruff, 1997, pg. 142). Mathwick et al. (2001) developed an experiential value scale to reflect the benefits derived from perception of playfulness, return on investment, aesthetics, and service excellence, in the context of Internet and catalogue shopping. The study provides insights regarding the psychometric properties of the scale as a measurement tool to capture the retail value and differences in shopping preferences across multichannel retail systems. Therefore, the implications of this study were limited to retail sector only. Sweeney and Soutar (2001) argued the dearth of a multi-item instrument in extant literature for consumers’ assessment of perception of value. The authors therefore explored and retrieved four dimensions of value namely—emotional, social, functional (quality) and functional (price), in this study. However, the originality of the instrument was doubted as the attributes were mostly common to Sheth et al. (1991). Also, Sweeney and Soutar (2001) contradicted the existing body of knowledge as it conceptualized quality as an attribute of value rather than an antecedent. In a revamped attempt, Mathwick et al. (2002) used the cognitive continuum theory to empirically investigate the effect of consumers’ shopping task on active value dimensions such as efficiency, economic value, and shopping enjoyment. The authors also tested the impact of shopping task and retail information on reactive value dimensions such as visual appeal, entertainment value and service excellence. Though this study provides a wide array of value dimensions, they are mostly limited to shopping contexts. Further, the study involved only female participants which could have skewed the study findings. Gallarza and Gil Saura (2006) investigated the concept of perceived value in the tourism context. The researchers tried to conceptualize perceived value consisting of service quality, social value, play, aesthetics, time, and effort spent. The study was critiqued of having used similar constructs, social value, and perceived value as the antecedent as well as the outcome variable. Further, perceived value itself was operationalized with only three items which limits the spectrum of understanding significantly. Table 3 provides a tabular representation of the extant studies discussed so far.

Table 3. Value proclivity used in extant studies (Source: Literature Review)

Authors	Proclivity and operationalization
Zeithaml (1988)	Uni-dimensional (Value is defined as salient sacrifices made and benefits received).
Cronin et al. (1997)	Uni-dimensional (Termed as service value, and measured in terms of monetary or non-monetary prices and risk).
Sheth et al. (1991)	Multi-dimensional (Five dimensions—functional, social, epistemic, emotional, and conditional. Value is derived by the differential contribution of the five dimensions).
Babin et al. (1994)	Multi-dimensional (Two dimensions—utilitarian, and hedonic. Projects the importance of both physical or economic, as well as emotional aspects of consumer behaviour).
Holbrook (1999)	Multi-dimensional (Three sets of values 2x2x2—Extrinsic vs Intrinsic, Self-oriented vs Other-oriented, and Active vs Reactive. One value dimension from each set would act in the consumer decision making process).
Woodruff (1997)	Multi-dimensional (Termed as customer value, and measured in terms of customers’ evaluation of attributes, attribute performance, and consequences arising out of usage of a particular product or service).
Mathwick et al. (2001)	Multi-dimensional (Termed as experiential value, and measured in terms of benefits derived from perception of playfulness, return on investment, aesthetics, and service excellence).
Sweeney and Soutar (2001)	Multi-dimensional (emotional, social, functional -quality, and functional -price. Value is derived by the differential contribution of the four dimensions).
Mathwick et al. (2002)	Multi-dimensional (active value dimensions such as efficiency, economic value, and shopping enjoyment; reactive value dimensions such as visual appeal, entertainment value and service excellence).
Gallarza and Gil Saura (2006)	Multi-dimensional (Termed as ‘perceived value’ consisting of service quality, social value, play, aesthetics, time and effort spent).
Tanrikulu (2021)	Not applicable—literature review paper
Chakraborty et al. (2022)	Multi-dimensional, follows Sheth et al. (1991)’s conceptualization
Ha (2021)	Multi-dimensional (social value and economic value).

Hence, after observing the different proclivities of value, the theory of consumption value conceptualized by Sheth et al. (1991) was considered suitable for understanding the consumers’ perception of value in the context of V-o-D services. We derived the following rationales for considering the suitability of Sheth et al. (1991) in the present context from Tanrikulu (2021) such as: (i) independency of the five value dimensions—functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional (ii) the differential contributions of these five dimensions in understanding the consumers’ perception of value in any particular context (iii) better explanation of consumers’ motivation in adopting a technology mediated service (such as V-o-D) when compared to other theories such as TRA and TAM (iv) dynamic and yet parsimonious nature of the five dimensions in explaining the value derived by consumers in any product/service context. Recent studies such as Chakraborty et al. (2022) (conducted in the context of mobile payment app) have used this theory by Sheth et al. (1991) to understand the consumers’ adoption of these apps. Hence, we find this theory, i.e. the theory of consumption values to be coeval as well as suitable to understand the consumers’ perception in the context of any Internet enabled service. Therefore, through this review, we infer that value in the V-o-D service context would be best operationalized through the theory of consumption values propounded by Sheth et al. (1991). As such in the subsequent part of this study, value would be reckoned through these five dimensions namely—Functional value, Social value, Epistemic value, Emotional value, and Conditional value.

In Table 4 we provide definition of the five value dimensions as applicable in the current context.

Table 4. Definitions of the five “Value” dimensions (Source: Derived from Sheth et al., 1991)

Sl.	Dimension	Definition
1.	Functional Value	“The perceived utility acquired from a V-o-D platform’s capacity for functional, utilitarian, or physical performance”
2.	Social Value.	“The perceived recognition acquired by an individual due to the consumption of V-o-D service”
3.	Emotional Value	“The perceived emotion acquired by an individual due to the consumption of V-o-D service”
4.	Epistemic Value	“The perceived gratification of curiosity acquired by an individual due to the consumption of V-o-D service”
5.	Conditional Value	“The perceived utility acquired by an individual while consuming V-o-D service in any temporary or special situation”

3.4. Loyalty

The consumer behaviour literature discusses about several post-usage consequences, such as satisfaction, repurchase intention, word-of-mouth, and loyalty. However, Reichheld and Sasser (1990) considered loyalty to be the predominant pot-usage consequence, as they opined that 20% of the loyal customers cater to the 80% of the business of an organization. Oliver (1999) opined that though a majority of the satisfied customers are loyal, the reverse is not always true. To elaborate this notion, he defined loyalty as the dedication of a consumer to repurchase or patronize a product or service consistently, irrespective of convincing marketing attempts by competitors who are capable of inducing a switch. Interesting to note that through this definition, the author consolidated various behavioural consequences such as repurchase intention, patronization, and word-of-mouth under one construct—loyalty. Also, the author demarcated satisfaction from loyalty, when he defined satisfaction as the consumers’ notion of the consequence of comparison of pleasure and displeasure. Further, Oliver (1999) also categorized loyalty into four stages: (i) cognitive loyalty—loyalty based on the prior knowledge or experience about a product/service (ii) affective loyalty—loyalty based on the cumulative satisfying encounters (iii) conative loyalty—the devotion or intend to repurchase or re-patronize a product/service (iv) action loyalty—the stage where the intentions actually gets converted to a re-patronization, reuse, or repurchase of a product/service.

When it comes to the consumer behaviour in the electronics and internet sector, Reichheld and Schefter (2000) opined “e-loyalty” as the weapon to success for marketers. The authors were of the view that such loyal customers would attract new customers through their positive word-of-mouth and, therefore, if not harnessed properly might prove dismal for the business.

Hence, it was essential to understand what triggers the consumers’ loyalty towards a particular product or service. So, Parasuraman and Grewal (2000) tried investigating the antecedents of customer loyalty. In course, they furnished an integrated structure of quality–value–loyalty chain. The quality used by the researchers refers to the product quality, whereas value was operationalized through four dimensions—acquisition, transaction, in-use, and redemption value, as per Dodds et al. (1991) and, Grewal et al. (1998). Despite furnishing the relationship chain, the scope of the study was limited due to the lack of clarity about the conceptualization of loyalty and empirical validation of the relationship chain.

Much later, Fuentes-Blasco et al. (2010) identified a gap in literature pertaining to the service quality–value–loyalty linkage in the online context. The researcher undertook empirical research where they conceptualized service quality and value based on the-existing studies of Parasuraman et al. (2005) and Zeithaml (1988) respectively. Loyalty was defined as per Srinivasan et al. (2002, pg. 42): “a customer’s favourable attitude towards the e-retailer that results in repeat buying behaviour”. Interestingly, this definition is in line with the definition of Oliver (1999). The findings of the study by Fuentes-Blasco et al. (2010) empirically support the service quality-perceived value–loyalty chain, in the electronics sector.

Jiang et al. (2015) investigated the relationship in between service quality, value, and loyalty, in the B2C context. They advocated the need for such repeated endeavours concerning service quality–value–loyalty, due to the difference in fabric of different service sectors. According to these researchers, this variety in service industries leads to the establishment of different attributes of assessing service quality, which in turn imposes varied degree of influence on value and in turn on loyalty (Kumar & Reinartz, 2006). Jiang et al. (2015) operationalized service quality as a multidimensional construct consisting of five attributes—care, reliability, product portfolio, ease of use, and security. Value and loyalty were conceptualized to be unidimensional. Results indicated the significant and positive influence of each of the five attributes of service quality on value, which in turn positively impacts loyalty. Li and Shang (2020) once again attempted to study the relationship in the context of government websites in China. The researchers used technical performance quality, and service function quality as the independent variables in lieu of service quality. Efficiency value, democracy value, and inclusiveness value were considered as a substitute for value, while continuous use intention was used as a proxy for loyalty. The findings established the influence of quality ➔ value ➔ loyalty yet again.

We present Table 5 depicting the operationalization of loyalty in several extant studies including those discussed in this subsection.

Table 5. Loyalty attributes used in extant studies (Source: Literature review)

Sl.	Authors	Operationalizing items	Loyalty type
1.	Reichheld and Sasser (1990)	Conceptual paper	Not Applicable
2.	Oliver (1999)	Conceptual paper	Not Applicable
3.	Reichheld and Schefter (2000)	Conceptual paper	Not Applicable
4.	Parasuraman and Grewal (2000)	Conceptual paper	Not Applicable
5.	Zeithaml et al. (1996)	Would consider … . Say positive things … Recommend to friends and family … Encourage friends and family Do more business	Conative Action
6.	Z. Yang and Peterson (2004)	I would recommend … I would encourage … I intend to continue … I intend to do more business … I say positive things …	Conative Action
7.	Pura (2005)	Intend to continue … Will order it again …	Conative
8.	Fuentes-Blasco et al. (2010)	Will give positive references … Will recommend … Will encourage … Consider first option …	Conative Action
9.	Jiang et al. (2015)	I would recommend … I would encourage … I would post positive message … I intend to continue … I intend to do more business … I say positive things …	Conative Action
10.	Li and Shang (2020)	I intend to increase the use of … . I will recommend others … In the future, I will consider such websites to be my first choice	Conative
11.	Supriyanto et al. (2021)	Keep abreast of organizational developments Willing a lot for theOrganization Wish you success injoining the organization Increased frequency of participation Has a long time for organisation Demonstrate self-success to organization	ConativeAction

Through a critical observation of this table, it can be deduced that in most extant research, loyalty has been operationalized through item statements that pertain to either conative or action loyalty as originally defined by Oliver (1999). These examples clarify that consumers’ manifestation of loyalty is predominantly either conative or action oriented, and, therefore, in the remaining part of this research too, loyalty will be reckoned as either conative or action loyalty.

4. Methodology for framing proposition

The overview of the extant studies pertaining to service quality indicates that the entertainment V-o-D service quality (those facilitated through OTT platforms such as Netflix, Disney-Hotstar, etc.) should comprise both utilitarian and hedonic attributes. Since extant literature do not furnish any exclusive attribute for evaluating V-o-D service quality and exploration of novel attributes for assessing V-o-D service quality is beyond the scope of this current study, therefore, in this study we would use both of these broad category of attributes (i.e. utilitarian and hedonic) while postulating the propositions between V-o-D service quality and its corresponding outcome. Further, as discussed earlier, value would be conceptualized through the five dimensions of Sheth et al. (1991), whereas loyalty would be conceptualized as either conative or action loyalty.

Next, we draw propositions relating these identified attributes through logical arguments from existing literature in a manner similar to Hasan et al. (2017). Finally, we validated the propositions through interview of 15 consumers of V-o-D service. We selected these respondents through snow-ball technique in a manner similar to Roy and Sanyal (2017). We adopted the snow-ball technique as it provides easy references of like-minded people using V-o-D service, from an initial list of personal contacts. Moreover, with the pandemic still persistent it was necessary to approach prospective respondents (who were strangers) through the channel of acquaintances thereby removing any doubt or mistrust in the prospective respondents’ minds. The prospective respondents were contacted either through mails, phone, or social media and were requested to volunteer for the research. These respondents were sourced from different regions of India. Those consented were interviewed over web-meetings, in mutually conducive time, using semi-structured questions (Appendix 1). We maintained the ethical parameters while conducting these interviews (such as anonymity, no use of coercion, acknowledging their voluntary consent) and the period of data collection was March and April 2021. Table 6 details about the demographic parameters.

Table 6. Sample demographics of the study (n=15) (Source: Authors’ data collection)

Parameter		n	Percentage
Gender	Male	9	60
	Female	6	40
Age	21–30 years	7	46.67
	31–40 years	5	33.33
	41+ years	3	20
Occupation	Service/Self-employed	6	40
	Homemaker	5	33.33
	Student	4	26.67
Location	Mumbai (Western India)	3	20
	Manipal (Southern India)	3	20
	Kolkata (Eastern India)	3	20
	New Delhi (Northern India)	2	13.33
	Shillong (North-Eastern India)	2	13.33
	Gwalior (Central India)	2	13.33

5. Propositions

Once the prospective attributes of V-o-D service quality, as well as the expected value and loyalty dimensions in the context of V-o-D have been identified from the review of the extant literature, it was necessary to draw the propositions amongst them. Such a linkage would furnish crucial cognizance in the domain of V-o-D services, following the discourse of Kumar and Reinartz (2006). Our propositions are based on the extant studies by Martin and Woodside (2008) and Roy and Sanyal (2017).

5.1. Service quality–value

Extant research by Turel et al. (2010) strongly argues that artifacts based on information technology such as digital music are hedonic service, whose consumption entails multi-sensory involvement. Hence, to properly understand the consumption pattern of such services, it is important to investigate the functional/utilitarian (such as price of the service) as well as non-functional/hedonic (such as experience, enjoyment)—attributes associated with the service. Turel et al. (2010) adopted the theory of consumption values (Sheth et al., 1991) to explain the adoption of such digital artifacts through the lens of different independent value dimensions such as social, emotional, and epistemic values (related to the hedonic aspects), and functional value (related to the utilitarian aspects). Since the context of the current study, i.e. V-o-D service happens to be an analogous service to digital artifacts, we presume that the five value dimensions propounded by Sheth et al. (1991) would be crucial in understanding the values consumers associate with the service.

Chang (2008) tried to investigate the internal composition of service quality and consumer value—attributes. The researcher explored and found that the utilitarian attributes such as price and reliability of a service positively influence the functional value (or the economic utilities) derived from the service. Jiang et al. (2015) investigated the relationship between attributes of e-service quality such as reliability and ease-of-use, on “perceived value”. Interestingly, the e-Service quality attributes used in this study were utilitarian in nature, whereas the unidimensional “perceived value” was operationalized through items reflecting the functional value associated with the service. In our present study pertaining to V-o-D service, we sense a similar relationship would exist in between service quality and functional value, which was validated by the respondents attending our interviews. We present one such interview excerpt,

The subscription tariff for these V-o-D platforms are cheaper than any cable or satellite TV. Also, using these apps is like a cakewalk. You have to just click and play. Hence, it becomes an easy alternative for people like us in search of entertainment. V-o-D therefore, is of great utility to us (Trader, male)

Based on the above arguments and opinion of the respondents, we propose that:

P₁ = The utilitarian attributes of V-o-D service quality would positively influence the

functional value

Since the V-o-D service is a novel context, proposing the relationship of its prospective attributes with corresponding values has been the quest of this current research. The two broad categories of service quality identified in this article are—utilitarian and hedonic. While proposition P₁ relates the utilitarian attribute of service quality with functional value, we next attempt to relate the hedonic attribute of service quality with the other dimensions of value identified earlier (i.e. social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional).

Voss et al. (2003) categorized the elements of hedonism in products and services such as delight, sensuous, enjoyment, amusement, fun, excitement, thrill, pleasant, etc. Yoshida et al. (2013) and Biscaia et al. (2017) rationalized the relationship in between such hedonic elements of service quality with corresponding value. A granular inspection of the items used for operationalizing value in these two studies would reveal them to be synonymous to emotional, epistemic, and social value as defined earlier in our present article. We therefore base our remaining propositions on the literature of such cognate contexts of sports and leisure (Biscaia et al., 2017; Yoshida et al., 2013). Our arguments regarding these relationships also find merit from the opinion of the interviewed respondents. We present few such interview excerpts followed by the corresponding propositions.

A female, IT analyst opined:

Initially I was reluctant to use V-o-D but soon discovered that I was getting marooned amongst friends and colleagues who were discussing mostly the programs and contents of V-o-D. I too started to use V-o-D and no longer feel secluded in my social cohort, in fact the experience has been great and pleasurable

Drawing cue from Voss et al. (2003), Yoshida et al. (2013), and Biscaia et al. (2017) and based on the results of the interviews, we propose that:

P₂ = The hedonic attributes of V-o-D service quality would positively influence the

social value

A young paramedic (female) opined:

The programs in V-o-D are fresh, contents are novel and enrich the viewers. Hence the service is exciting and thrilling to users like me.

Arguing on the basis of extant research by Yoshida et al. (2013) and Biscaia et al. (2017) and based on the results of the interviews, we propose that:

P₃ = The hedonic attributes of V-o-D service quality would positively influence the

epistemic value

Another male respondent, a gym-instructor by profession mentioned:

In V-o-D you have the option to choose programs according to you moods and emotion. If are feeling adventurous you can chose adventure, or thrillers to watch. Similarly, if you feel inquisitive you have enough contents related to criminal as well as historical investigations. I enjoy the fun it provides.

Therefore, considering the arguments of the extant literature and drawing inference from the interviews, we propose that:

P₄ = The hedonic attributes of V-o-D service quality would positively influence the

emotional value

Although prior studies such as Ledden et al. (2011) consider conditional value as a temporary or special element of functional and social value, it is considered to be important in the context of V-o-D. This notion is being justified from the in-depth interviews of the respondents. The respondents were of the view that a prime differentiating feature of V-o-D service is to offer leisure and entertainment even when subjected to temporary or special situations such as travelling for a business trip or daily mundane commute to work. As opined by a banker (male):

I travel daily by train to work. So I spend my time watching some shows on the V-o-D platforms. In this way, I am able to spend some quality time seeing programs on various topics related to varied emotions, which earlier used to get wasted.

Therefore, we postulate that:

P₅ = The hedonic attributes of V-o-D service quality would positively influence the

conditional value

5.2. Value–loyalty

Prior existing research such as Kim et al. (2019) had argued that providing mere quality product/service alone cannot suffice for a successful business. Consumers should be continuously attracted with innovative experiences so as to capture their share of mind and wallet. In other words, the persuading parameters of any business should be unique to induce customers continuously either to exhibit a conative loyalty (e.g. willingness to reuse/repatronize the product/service) or action loyalty (e.g. reusing/repatronizing a service). This notion is applicable in the context of V-o-D service also, where the consumers’ stickiness associated to any particular V-o-D platform, or the entire service is too low due to easiness in switching. Hence, to continue the consumers’ (online) footfall to these platforms, marketers should furnish such kind of service to which consumers attach more value (H. Yang & Lin, 2017).

5.2.1. Functional value–loyalty

Floh et al. (2014) in their research set in the context of telecommunication service explored and proved that the value related to the utilitarian aspects of the service such as reliability, user-friendly service, properly working service, etc., imbibes a sense of loyalty amongst the consumers. In a similar fashion, it can be argued that the utilities engendered from the functional usage of V-o-D service might induce a sense of loyalty in the consumers’ mind. Features of navigation such as (i) using the service anywhere or anytime (ii) start, stop, rewind the program at any moment as per the users’ will, or (iii) downloading programs for future might be instrumental in imparting both conative, and action loyalty in the consumers’ mind. An example from one of the respondents, an engineer (male) indicates towards such a relationship:

Whenever I am free I resort to V-o-D, whether I am in home or at office. Using a V-o-D app. is so easy. Anything you want just click and play, or pause and play, or download. I love the interface and features of Amazon Prime, Netflix or HotStar very much that I have subscribed to many V-o-D platforms and have also encouraged many of my colleagues too.

Hence, considering the extant arguments and the opinion of the respondents, we postulate that:

P_6a = The functional value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the conative loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

P_6b = The functional value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the action loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

5.2.2. Social value–loyalty

H. Yang and Lin (2017) in their study concerning “SoLoMo⁵” service discussed that such services can be leveraged to facilitate social communication and interaction. For example, people using “SoLoMo” service can check in a place and express feeling/discuss/converse in a social group. The researchers argued that such activities would provide the consumers a sense of belongingness and instigate them to continue their usage of the “SoLoMo” service. Further, the researchers empirically proved this relationship. As the service facilitated by V-o-D is analogous to a “SoLoMo” service we presume similar justifications for relating the social value derived out of the service by consumers and their future loyalty intentions associated with the service. The participants in our interview were also of the opinion that V-o-D usage would impart a sense of peer acceptance, recognition, and positive social perception in the consumers’ mind, and they might get encouraged to spread good words about the service or use it in the long run. As mentioned by a young professor (female):

I was a bookworm earlier and did not use media like V-o-D and somewhat reluctantly started using V-o-D due to peer pressure. Now I know what I was missing. I am no longer left alone in casual peer discussions. I am using many social groups related to such V-o-D platforms to make new friends and acquaintances for quite a long now and would say positive about it to anyone asking my opinion.

Following these arguments, we propose that:

P_7a = The social value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the conative loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

P_7b = The social value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the action loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

5.2.3. Epistemic value–loyalty

Ebstein et al. (1997) had scientifically proved—“curiosity and novelty seeking” to be a basic human characteristic. Since, V-o-D offers programs with novel approaches covering topics not commonly available in traditional media (such as television and cinema), it can be inferred that the V-o-D service evokes a sense of epistemic value in the consumers’ mind. H. Yang and Lin (2017) had also studied and found the positive influence of novelty in service offerings on different facets of loyalty. Further, the interviewed respondents also revealed that the value derived from the consumption of unique and realistic programs quench the consumers’ curiosity regarding various issues otherwise rarely available in competing media (such as TV or theatre) which urges them for repeat usage and patronization of the service.

Laakhon mein ek – season 2 in Amazon Prime is a story about a young medical intern in rural India. In simple narration it describes the many challenges faced by the protagonist while she tries to heal patients. The story therefore reflects a story-line which though very common amongst medical practitioners, is hardly known to the common mass, opined pharmacist (male)

Following these arguments, we postulate that:

P_8a = The epistemic value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the conative loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

P_8b = The epistemic value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the action loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

5.2.4. Emotional value–loyalty

The usage of V-o-D services might imbibe emotions such as relaxation, happiness, or joy in the consumers’ mind, thereby enhancing value of the service experienced already by them. Butz and Goodstein (1996) had opined that emotional state of consumers’ mind might impact their loyalty towards a particular product or service. In extant research concerning telecommunication service (Floh et al., 2014) or “SoLoMo” service H. Yang and Lin (2017), the researchers had empirically established the impact of emotional value on consumers’ decision-making process. The consumers of V-o-D service interviewed for our study also opined on a similar note. We present one such example here,

After a long day at work, if you need some thrills Netflix offers you programs like Money Heist. Further, if you want a taste of adventure, Netflix offers SPY, and all this at the tip of your fingers. Such amazing features of Netflix truly attracts customers like me for a long-time association. says a Nurse.

Following this discourse, we propose that:

P_9a = The emotional value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the conative loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

P_9b = The emotional value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the action loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

5.2.5. Conditional value–loyalty

The unique selling proposition of V-o-D service is that it can be used even in odd situation and circumstances. Hence, the value derived from the usage of the V-o-D service in such circumstances is termed as conditional value. Interestingly, Pura (2005) had established the existence of conditional value in a similar service (location-based mobile) and eventually proved its influence on behavioural intention such as loyalty.

We anticipate the existence of similar relationships in the context of V-o-D service from the opinion of the respondents in the interviews conducted by us. The respondents find value in its usage in special circumstance and situations, and therefore opines for a long-term commitment to the service. One such example opined by a journalist,

I am a rookie sports journalist and travel places to cover matches. Apart from the time when I am at the stadium, V-o-D helps me to watch and cover live matches. Even if I am stuck in traffic and late to reach the stadia, I don’t miss a part of the match. I feel indebted to V-o-D and would definitely continue this partnership with it.

Hence, following this discourse in this study we postulate that:

P_10a = The conditional value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the conative loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

P_10b = The conditional value derived out of the usage of a V-o-D service would positively influence the action loyalty amongst the users of V-o-D service

Figure 2 represents a complete description of the propositions discussed so far, compiled in a framework.

6. Discussion

In this article, we conducted a literature review to identify the prospective attributes of entertainment V-o-D service quality (those facilitated through OTT platforms such as Netflix, Disney-Hotstar, etc.). We also explored the extant research in the domain of perceived value and loyalty and identified the prospective dimensions of value and loyalty as could be applicable in the context of V-o-D service. Further, we posited several propositions relating the prospective attributes of service quality, value, and loyalty, based on extant relationships in analogous service settings discussed in prior research studies. We also validated these propositions through interview of V-o-D consumers.

A minute observation of the propositions would reveal that the utilitarian attributes would enhance the functional value, which in turn would impact the conative and action loyalty. Here, it can be inferred that consumers look forward to the utilitarian attributes of service quality such as subscription prices, reliability of the platforms in playing programs of choice to enhance the value derived out of the service. Therefore, the marketers should play proper attention in taking care of the prospective utilitarian attributes (such as price, reliability) so that consumers add value to their service, which in turn would create a sense of loyalty in the consumers’ mind.

It was also inferred that the prospective hedonic attributes of V-o-D service quality would influence the social, epistemic, emotional, and conditional dimensions of value, which in turn would also influence the conative and action loyalty amongst the consumers. From the limited number of interviews conducted to validate the propositions, it can be deduced that the marketers should look to provide more novel content and increase their service offerings catering to varied emotional and epistemic stimuli. In these manners, the V-o-D platforms would be able to furnish service that impacts multiple senses thereby enhancing the value associated with such service. As a result of such rigorous course of action, the marketers might be able to create and retain a loyal pool of consumers, who would impact the success and growth of the overall business, through their act of re-patronization or spreading the good words.

7. Contributions

7.1. Theoretical implication

The present research has several contributions. First, through an overview of the extant literature, it identifies salient attributes pertaining to service quality, value, and loyalty concerning V-o-D. Second, through prominent logics derived from prior literature and consumers’ opinion, it furnishes several propositions relating the different attributes of service quality, value, and loyalty in the context of V-o-D. Third, through this process of identification and postulation of propositions, this study ought to motivate future researchers to explore and establish empirically the service quality attributes of other online entertainment services such as online social games and audio streaming services. Fourth, it would encourage future researchers to establish scales to gauge the service quality, value, and loyalty pertaining to V-o-D and empirically test the inter-relationships

7.2. Managerial implication

Our research also has important implication for marketers of V-o-D services. First, it delegates the marketers about the importance of both utilitarian and hedonic attributes of V-o-D. Though the exact attributes are not explored in this research, the prospective attributes opined by the respondents (such as subscription prices and content of the programs) should be considered with equal gravity by the marketers to enhance the value consumers associate with the service. This might lead to the creation of a pool of loyal consumers eventually helping to the growth of the business through their repeated patronization.

Second, if marketers of any of the individual V-o-D platforms (such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, etc.) are interested in comparing the quality of the service provided by them with their competitors, they can use the prospective attributes as opined in this study. Alternatively, they can indulge themselves into market research to explore the exact attributes of V-o-D service quality, with the prospective attributes identified in this research as the basis.

8. Limitations and future directions

Our research is not free from limitations. First, our research context was strictly V-o-D service, a niche area within the vast domain of online entertainment. While including the other broad areas within the entertainment domain could have augmented support to the study findings, V-o-D was purely chosen because of its rising popularity. Second, we limited this research to identification of key attributes pertaining to V-o-D service quality, value, and loyalty through logical arguments through review of extant literature and few interviews. Future research should be conducted to explore and empirically validate attributes concerning V-o-D service quality, value, and loyalty.

9. Conclusion

In the increasingly competitive market of entertainment service, V-o-D has proved his strong foothold. Though the growth and forecast regarding V-o-D has been optimistic, it might face problem in the longer run if the marketers lack in knowledge regarding the parameters based on which the consumers evaluate the quality of a V-o-D service.

Though the service literature has abundant studies discussing the service quality of various service sector and their corresponding effects on consumer behaviour, little is known about the dimensions of service quality of V-o-D. In this article, we tried to address this gap by conducting a robust review of literature to identify the prospective parameters attributing to V-o-D service quality. We further propose their influence on various dimensions of consumer value, and, thereafter, the effect of value on loyalty dimensions is examined. These inter-construct relationships explored and identified through the literature review are validated through interview of a small sample of V-o-D consumers.

Disclosure statement

All authors hereby declare no personal or professional conflicts of interest relating to any aspect of this study

Notes

1. Theory of Reasoned Action.

2. Technology Acceptance Model.

3. Utilitarian—concerned with instrumental or goal-oriented usage of a product or service, such as reliability, ease-of-use (Childers et al., 2001).

4. Hedonic—concerned with non-instrumental/entertainment/enjoyment usage of a product or service, related to psychology of the users such as aesthetic design, website content (Childers et al., 2001).

5. a form of mobile application (app), consisting of social network and location-based services that fulfill users’ immediate needs via mobile devices (H. Yang & Lin, 2017, pg. 583).