In recognizing the significance of linking the power of electronic commerce to relationship marketing in continuously provided service context, this dissertation investigates the role of electronic commerce in determining desirable customer relationship outcomes. In particular, this dissertation proposes the positive associations between customers' use of electronic commerce in stock trading and four customer relationship outcomes such as perceived service quality, overall satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, and actual retention. In addition, in order to control for other factors that could make electronic commerce useful, this dissertation also examines several conditions under which customers use electronic stock trading more.;Empirical data were collected from an intercept field survey of 170 customers of two major Korean stock trading brokers. Our results show that customer knowledge, price sensitivity, access capacity, and frequency of order are crucial conditions for customers' use of electronic commerce in stock trading. Moreover, customer knowledge and price sensitivity appear to predict use of electronic commerce most significantly, controlling some demographic variables. Our main findings from a series of hierarchical regression analyses indicate that use of electronic commerce in stock trading is strongly associated with high levels of service quality, overall satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, and actual retention. In addition, the existence of offline experience is negatively related to the level of overall satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty. Interestingly, the greater use of the Internet appears to be associated with lower level of service quality.;Partially consistent with the results of regression analyses, the results of a structural equation analysis confirm only two of four direct linkages between use of electronic commerce and relationship outcomes: (1) use of electronic commerce and service quality, and (2) use of electronic commerce and actual retention. Service quality turns out to play a significant mediating role in predicting the impacts of use of electronic commerce on overall satisfaction and customers' actual retention. Overall satisfaction also appears to play a mediating role with service quality in predicting the impacts of use of electronic commerce on customers' attitudinal loyalty.;Despite several (imitations, including cross-sectional design conducted only in Korea, this study advances the understanding of the powerful role of electronic commerce in creating some desirable customer relationship outcomes. The limitations of this study suggest that the strengths of the findings will be enhanced through future longitudinal research efforts replicated under different cultures with larger sample. At the practical level, findings in this study mainly suggest that the service providers really need to shift a transaction orientation to relationship building in their efforts on electronic commerce and utilize electronic commerce arrangements as a strategic vehicle of relationship marketing as well as a simple driver of cost savings.
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