Cross-Comparison of Customer Satisfaction Levels Associated with Online Shopping in the United States, Mexico, and Germany
... in accomplishing online transactions, and (2) consumers’ expectations for delivery and fulfillment of products and services. Additionally, research results can be applied to the interpretation of what qualitative parameters contribute to a positive shopping experience for online consumers in Mexico, Germany, and the United States. From the 407 directly distributed survey questionnaires, 220 completed questionnaires were received. That is a response rate of 54%. The sample size was met and exceeded for the United States; however, the number of survey responses received from Germany and Mexico did not meet the required, minimum sample size (119 responses per country). The response rate of voluntary surveys generally varies from 20% to over 80% (Sinickas, 2001) with several factors moderating this range including but not limited to length of survey; demographic questions; incentives; and, how and where the survey is administered. Some factors were issues in this research study. The length of the survey did not seem to deter respondents from completing the entire survey, however, most non-responses were in the demographic data section of the questionnaire, which was the final section. Traditionally, survey respondents have been sensitive to providing personal information. A detriment to collecting a high number of completed surveys from Mexico and Germany was the inability to offer incentives. This affected not only how many people might complete a survey, but more importantly, it affected the ability to establish a relationship with an individual or organization with access to a numerous prospects that could complete the questionnaire. Proper incentives can motivate individuals to assist with and participate in research. Non-response in demographic items did not significantly affect other survey findings because respondents fully answered the other questions. In sum, three of the null hypotheses were rejected; thereby, substantiating the alternate hypothesis (hypotheses 1, 2 and 3) and three of the null hypotheses were not rejected (accept the null hypothesis for hypotheses 4, 5 and 6). The hypotheses were developed to determine if, in fact, there are linear or other types of relationships among the various data sets collected from the U.S., Mexico, and Germany. It is recognized that the current study did not have sufficient sample sizes from online shoppers in Germany and Mexico to generate statistically significant results. However, culture-based hypotheses were developed to illustrate what types of sample relationships might be possible based upon the survey instrument. The following six hypotheses are stated in positive form: 1. H1 = Satisfaction with online shopping increases as perceptions of online privacy and security become more positive. The null hypothesis was rejected because online privacy and security is related to e-satisfaction. 2. H2 = Satisfaction with online shopping increases as perceptions of online convenience become more positive. The null hypothesis was rejected because online ...