"My three essay dissertation considers fulfillment and returns service offerings in multi-channel supply chains. The demand for multichannel offerings is growing and though there are benefits for multichannel retailers, there is also greater complexity of the fulfillment and returns network. Through this research I examine the drivers and outcomes of retailer multichannel offerings. Essay 1 examines customer channel choice for retail returns. Retailers are increasingly offering more ways for customers to shop and interact through different channels, including options for returning product through different channels. Some consumers choose to stay in the same channel when returning product, while others choose to switch channels. Survey research was conducted to analyze how differences between consumers staying in the same channel or switching channels for returns influences how the retailing experience relates to customer satisfaction and behavior. The results support that delivery performance and returns convenience positively relate to customer satisfaction, and there is a stronger positive effect of delivery performance on customer satisfaction for customers that stay in the same channel for returns. Essay 2 considers boundary conditions of the relationship between interpersonal and informational justice and satisfaction and customer behavioral intentions. A scenario based experiment was used to test the relationships of interest. Scenarios include manipulations of interpersonal justice, informational justice, and moderator variables. Results support a direct effect of interpersonal and information justice on satisfaction and customer behavioral intentions. There is also support for moderating effects of attributions of blame, returns policy restrictiveness, and returns process convenience on the relationships between interpersonal justice and certain outcome variables. Essay 3 examines the effects of multichannel offerings on retailer performance. Two of the multichannel offerings examined relate to order fulfillment (buy online pick up in store and ship from store) and one of the multichannel offerings relates to returns management (return to store). Secondary data was analyzed to test the relationships of interest. Support was found that multichannel offerings related to aspects of order fulfillment have an effect on retailer performance."--Pages ii-iii.
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