The Mediating Role of Customer Satisfaction in Repurchase Intention towards Online Ready-To-Eat (RTE) Low Carbohydrate Food Products in Malaysia

Abstract

With the increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes in today's world, people have acknowledged the importance of advancing a healthy lifestyle and eating habits. As a result, many consumers have adopted a new low carbohydrate lifestyle that can help them reduce the severity of these health issues while maintaining a healthy body weight. In today's fast-paced world, it is becoming increasingly difficult for these consumers to prepare food that meets their dietary needs as it is time consuming. Many Ready-to-Eat (RTE) food products are high in carbohydrates, making it difficult for these consumers to eat on the go. However, there had been a growth of online businesses who had taken the opportunity of this niche segment to meet the demand of these consumers by providing low carbohydrate ready-to-eat (RTE) food. Despite the booming market, little is currently known about consumer satisfaction and repurchase intention regarding the food products and services provided. The purpose of this research is to investigate Malaysian consumers repurchase intentions for online Ready-to-Eat (RTE) low carbohydrate food products. Even though the nature of this segment differs from that of other online food services, a new perspective is considered. The study employed Social Exchange Theory (SET) as its theoretical underpinning. Based on a review of previous studies, factors such as food attributes, price fairness, and service quality are investigated to understand their influence on repurchase intention, with customer satisfaction acting as a mediator. For this study, a quantitative research approach was used, and data was collected via online survey using the purposive sampling technique. A dataset of 313 low carbohydrate lifestyle consumers was collected and analysed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. According to the findings, food attributes, service quality, and price fairness have a positive impact on customer satisfaction. As a result, customer satisfaction leads to repurchase intention for online ready-to-eat (RTE) low carbohydrate products. Customer satisfaction also acts as a mediator in the relationship between the independent variables and repurchase intention. The study's findings shed some light on this niche segment in the Malaysian context. These findings provide insight into customers repurchase intentions as well as guidance to online ready-to-eat (RTE) low carbohydrate business owners on how to continuously improve their offerings and retain customers for business sustainability