Measuring Service Convenience for Korean Retail Stores : Scale Development and Empirical Test

Purpose: No research has been conducted to measure and verify a multi-dimensional service convenience scale in Korean retail settings. The purpose of the present study is to develop and empirically test the dimensions and the measurement items of service convenience perceived by Korean consumers in retail contexts. Research design, data, and methodology: The present study adopts the framework suggested by Berry et al. (2002) and conceptualizes service convenience as a second-order reflective construct consisted of 31 items. The three department store chains (Hyundai, Lotte and Shinsegae department Store) and three discount store chains (E-mart, Homeplus and Lotte mart) were involved. The 510 usable responses were used to empirically test. Results: The measurement model results show that the measurement model is acceptable for the internal consistency, convergent validity and discriminant validity. Furthermore, the structural model results show that service convenience is positively related to satisfaction. Results of the rival model comparison indicate that the proposed second-order factor model provides a better fit to the data then both the five-factor and the one-factor model. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the multi-dimensional, second-order conceptualization of service convenience is robustly supported. This study provides psychometrically valid scales to measure service convenience in retail contexts as conceptualized by Berry et al. (2002).