CHATBOT QUALITY ALONE DOES NOT CREATE LOYALTY: SATISFACTION AND TRUST AS TRANSMISSION MECHANISMS

Prasetyo Hartanto (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia/Telkom University)
Vanessa Gaffar (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia)
Lili Adi Wibowo (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia)
Mokh Adib Sultan (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia)

Multidiciplinary Output Research for Actual and International Issue (Morfai Journal)
Vol. 6 No. 6 (2026): Multidiciplinary Output Research For Actual and International Issue

Chatbots have become a primary customer-service channel on Indonesian e-commerce platforms, yet evidence on how chatbot service quality is converted into customer loyalty remains limited. This study examines the effect of the service quality of Tokopedia's chatbot on e-loyalty and tests customer satisfaction and e-customer trust as parallel mediating mechanisms. A quantitative explanatory cross-sectional design was applied through an online survey of Tokopedia users; 297 responses were collected and 235 passed the screening criterion of prior chatbot use. All constructs were specified as reflective higher-order constructs measured by 23 items on a seven-point semantic differential scale, and the data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. Service quality has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction, e-customer trust and e-loyalty, and both mediators significantly increase e-loyalty. Both indirect paths are significant, and together they account for roughly three quarters of the total effect of service quality on e-loyalty, whereas the direct effect is significant but weak in magnitude. The model explains 65.0% of the variance in e-loyalty. The findings indicate that chatbot quality builds loyalty mainly by producing satisfying and trustworthy interactions rather than directly.