Unpacking the influence of commoditization on antecedents-trust relationship in online subscription services

Kovač, Matej (author), Žabkar, Vesna (author)

This paper examines how commoditization as perceived by online subscribers affects the relationship between email communication exposure and trust. The study conducted a survey among customers of services in three different markets, each characterized by varying levels of service commoditization. To assess perceptions of commoditization (a second-order formative construct), the research utilized first-order constructs, including service/industry homogeneity, customer price sensitivity, and the costs associated with switching providers. This operationalisation was used to gauge the service commoditization in each market, aligning with the positions reported by the service providers. The results revealed that commoditization only weakly moderates the relationship between email communication and trust in two of the samples. By highlighting the moderation effect of commoditization perception, this research contributes to our understanding of how market conditions can influence the relationship between communication strategies, such as email communication, and the development of trust in online subscription services. These findings have important implications for service companies operating in increasingly commoditized markets.

• Language: English
• Keywords: services, online shopping, price elasticity, online subscription, customer perception of commoditization, service homogeneity, price sensitivity, switching costs, email communication, trust
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.03 - Other scientific articles
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 113-128
• Numbering: Vol. 29, iss. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-176759
• UDC: 658.3
• ISSN on article: 1846-3363
• DOI: 10.30924/mjcmi.29.2.9
• COBISS.SI-ID: 220506883
• Publication date in RUL: 10.12.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Management
• Shortened title: Management
• Publisher: University of Split, Faculty of Economics
• ISSN: 1846-3363
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523963417

Licences

• License: CC BY-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
• Description: Under the NoDerivatives Creative Commons license one can take a work released under this license and re-distribute it, but it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Croatian
• Title: Ispitivanje utjecaja komoditizacije na preduvjet - povjerenje u online pretplatničkim uslugama
• Keywords: storitve, spletna trgovina, cenovna elastičnost