Online banking in India: An approach to establish CRM

Technology is fast altering the business servicescape. Its role in improving customer service levels is being used strategically and increasingly by service organizations. The service attributes and quality can be enhanced by deployment of technology. The Internet has facilitated convenience in customer interactions and transactions with the banks. Online banking is currently emerging as a new approach in India for providing improved accessibility and expediency to customers. Most banks have their own websites for improving the customer interface and offering online services. The article studies the applicability of online banking in India and its role in fostering relationships with customers and giving them more value. The research was conducted on customers familiar with online banking in India, and their perceptions about online banking were studied. The findings reveal that customers are using the services but are skeptical about the financial transactions and service quality dimensions.     

Towards a better understanding of mobile banking: the impact of customer experience on trust and commitment

In the current context of ubiquitous connectedness through portable mobile devices and services, it is important to comprehend more fully the nature of consumer/bank interactions and relationships. At the same time, firms in the service sector are trying to provide customers with impactful positive experiences. This article examines the impact of mobile banking experience on trust and commitment based on the customer experience dimensions defined by Schmitt and expanded to include the negative aspect of the affective dimension. A total of 396 panellists of a recognized Canadian research firm responded to a self-administered online questionnaire. Findings demonstrate that the cognitive and negative affective dimensions of mobile experience impact trust, whereas the positive affective/sensory dimension influences commitment. The behavioural and social dimensions do not have significant impacts. This study enriches the theoretical corpus of knowledge in customer experience, relationship marketing and m-banking literature, lending practical implications for mobile services managers. Financial institutions, for example, should offer sensory mobile applications designed to appeal to the eye or to the touch (positive affective/sensory dimension), provide tools and information intended to arouse user curiosity and provoke reflection (cognitive dimension), while avoiding negative experiences which can lead to damaging feelings/emotions such as disappointment and anger (negative affective dimension).     

Measuring service fairness and its impact on service quality and satisfaction: a study of Indian Banking Services

As very few studies have investigated banking services from fairness perspective and none of the studies have attempted to measure service fairness in Indian retail banking services context, the paper seeks to investigate service fairness in Indian retail banking services context. It attempts to validate the existing four-dimensional service fairness scale and investigates its applicability in the retail banking industry. The conceptual model depicting the relationship between service fairness, service quality and customer satisfaction was tested using SEM. The results established reliability and validity of the scale and the impact of service fairness on service quality and customer satisfaction. The impact of individual fairness dimensions on these two customer evaluation variables is also studied. The paper discusses important implications of the findings and presents valuable insights for the practitioners as well as academia.     

Determinants of loyalty and recommendation: The role of perceived service quality,emotional satisfaction and image

This study develops and tests a model for the determinants of loyalty and recommendation. The model considers three drivers – perceived service quality, emotional satisfaction and image – that are positively related to each other and positively influence loyalty and recommendation. The model is tested using data from a survey of 222 Tunisian bank service customers. The hypotheses, which were tested using structural equation modelling, are all supported. The results confirm that perceived service quality, emotional satisfaction and image are key drivers of loyalty and recommendation. The research emphasizes the role of emotional satisfaction and image as mediating variables between perceived service quality and loyalty/recommendation. The study also shows that a better understanding of the determinants of behavioural intentions in the banking industry occurs when affective dimensions are considered along with cognitive ones.     

A theory of banking structure

This paper proposes a theory to analyze the specialization of banking activities based upon the different functions that banks perform when rendering a variety of financial services. The functional difference in the services performed by banks is based upon two dimensions: the degree of information asymmetry involved in providing the service, and the degree of verifiability of the value of the service rendered. This has implications for the length of banking relationships and also determines whether banks develop the right degree of skill specialization and resource intensity for the existing task mix. Costly overspecialization occurs in certain deal type transactions and underspecialization occurs in relationship type transactions. The paper examines how bank-client relationships are structured and proposes an explanation for phenomena such as bank syndication. First-mover advantages and monopoly skills are also shown to be natural outcomes of the model. The analysis has implications for banking regulation, such as for the Glass–Steagall Act, in the sense that it analyzes the effects of this specialization, first enacted within the spirit of the Act.     

Understanding the intention to use mobile banking by existing online banking customers: an empirical study

The Indian banking sector can take advantage of the proliferation of smartphones as well as the government’s encouragement of cashless transactions to accelerate the use of mobile and online banking. The purpose of this study is to understand the initial acceptance of mobile banking by existing online banking users. Few studies have focused on online banking users’ behavioural intention to use similar services (such as mobile banking) in India. To this end, a theoretical model was developed using the technology acceptance model, which was extended to cover the adoption factors that influence users of online banking to use mobile banking. These adoption factors comprise perceived ease of use, perceived security, mobile self-efficacy, social influence and customer support. The dependent variable is customers’ behavioural intention to use mobile banking. A partial least squares structural equation modelling analysis was used to test the theoretical model with sample data from 420 online banking customers of various public, private, foreign and co-operative banks in India. The study found that the adoption factors had a significant impact on customers’ behavioural intention to use mobile banking. The findings of this study provide insight into digital banking channels, contribute to existing research on digital banking adoption and will educate banks and financial institutions on the adoption of mobile banking in India.

     

Customers' perceived value for private and state-controlled Hellenic banks

Under conditions of increasing competition banks try to improve their customers' level of satisfaction in order to create strong preferences and hence increase their customers' loyalty. This paper is based on data drawn from 1,470 questionnaires completed by customers of both private and state-controlled banks in various areas of Attica. It looks at the bank customers' satisfaction but focuses mainly on their perceived value from the banking services received. A first analysis of the data collected shows that state-controlled bank customers are older, with lower education and lower income. Additionally, state-controlled banks show lower proportions of very pleased customers and high proportions of displeased customers. A principal component analysis performed on the data related to perceived value has defined three main factors: professional service, marketing efficiency and effective communication, which have then been used as the basis for comparing the customers' perceived value between the two types of bank. The main findings of this analysis show that state-controlled bank customers enjoy a higher perceived value in the case of marketing efficiency (mainly due to the wider network and the favourable pricing policy) whereas private bank customers enjoy a higher perceived value in the case of professional service and effective communication.     

More hedonic versus less hedonic consumption behaviour in advanced internet bank services

Finnish internet banking can be considered as one of the most advanced in the world. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the consumer characteristics in this sector. In the context of internet bank services the paper compares and contrasts two sets of consumers: those who prefer a more experiential view of consumption (more hedonic consumers) with those who believe in a less experiential view of consumption (less hedonic consumers). It was found that important differences exist between these two groups of consumers. Specifically, more hedonically orientated consumers place greater value on almost every proposed service dimension than the less hedonic consumers. These more hedonic consumers tend to be younger people, however, with lower education and income level and thus they do not appear to be an appealing target market for banks. In contrast, less hedonic consumers are found to be a more lucrative target market, even though they prefer basic services that concentrate on the core function of internet banking. The results have profound implications for internet bank services. Banks should focus on an improved functional operation of the services on the internet and cater more to the customers who find it effective and efficient.     

互联网企业的金融服务创新对网上银行的启示

互联网企业金融创新服务的迅猛崛起,给传统商业银行的发展带来了巨大的冲击和挑战。本文基于服务创新的相关理论及其四维度模型,探讨了互联网企业的金融服务创新的特点与成功经验,以第三方支付、余额宝、P2P网贷及众筹模式为例总结了现有的互联网企业的金融服务创新内容,同时剖析了网上银行在互联网企业的金融服务创新浪潮下所面临的挑战与机遇。参照对比互联网企业的金融服务创新特征并基于四维度模型探索网上银行的服务创新发展策略。     

App service: How do consumers perceive the quality of financial service apps on smart devices?

Apps on smart devices such as phones and tablets have enabled financial services firms not only to provide greater convenience and flexibility to customers, but also to get them to do a lot of the work entailed in these services. This has changed the character of service in many ways, including the nature of service quality where service is no longer delivered by people, but by means of technology. The study reported here used an amended version of the SERVQUAL instrument to assess consumers’ perception of the quality of the service delivered by the apps of their financial services providers. Three dimensions of app service quality emerge: reliability, personal and visibles. Generally, consumers are reasonable satisfied with the quality of service provided by their financial apps and prefer them to visits to service providers physical locations and rate them as highly as online service provision on PCs or laptops. Limitations are acknowledged, managerial implications drawn and avenues for future research are identified.     

Mobile banking innovators and early adopters: How they differ from other online users?

The rapid pace of technological development has created opportunities for financial service providers to offer their services via multiple electronic channels. The mobile phone is one of the most promising but so far marginally adopted channel for using financial services by consumers. Earlier literature on innovation adoption argued that those among the first to adopt new innovations possess unique characteristics compared to the majority of consumers. This paper aims to study how mobile banking innovators and early adopters differ from other users of online banking services. An internet survey was conducted among customers of a large Scandinavian bank in Finland yielding 2,675 responses. Logistic regression was used to identify variables differentiating between users of mobile banking and other online banking services. Somewhat contradictory to earlier findings the results indicate that only age (p<0.0005) and gender (p=0.010) differentiate these two groups of customers, while education (p=0.957), income (p=0.624), occupation (p=0.596) and size of the household (p=0.151) were found to be insignificant in differentiating the groups. The results offer service providers better knowledge of the typical mobile banking user thus adding value to their marketing actions in the field of electronic banking.     

中小银行金融服务现状及发展研究--以长春农商银行为例

本文以长春农村商业银行为研究对象,阐述其金融服务工作现状,并对其金融服务工作中存在的问题进行深入分析,研究中小银行服务价值要点,探索研究符合中小银行主要客户群体金融服务需求的服务策略,并提出实施该策略必要的保障措施。     

Perceived risk and e-banking services: An analysis from the perspective of the consumer

This research investigates the premise that purchasing e-banking services is perceived to be riskier than purchasing traditional banking services. Unlike previous studies on perceived risk that typically focused on the relationship of perceived risk and information search, this exploratory study examines the dynamics of perceived risk throughout the various stages of the consumer buying process. A survey of 159 respondents reveals a risk premium for e-banking services that follows a systematic pattern throughout the consumer buying process. When viewed as a dynamic process, perceived risk for e-banking services shows more radical changes in risk levels than traditional banking services. The analyses indicate that financial risk drives the risk premium while psychological, physical and time risk play ancillary roles as risk drivers at certain stages of the consumer buying process. A major implication of this study is that there is a risk premium for e-banking services and the risk premium permeates all stages of the consumer buying process. Risk mitigation strategies are addressed.     

Customer account relationships and e-retail banking usage<Superscript>1</Superscript>

Financial institutions are actively developing new electronic banking products for their retail customers. To date, the market leaders have drawn a disproportionably higher share of e-retail banking customers. In response, smaller institutions have become quite active in exploring ways to participate profitably in online banking. A major influence is from a customer relationship management (CRM) perspective, where institutions try to limit the outflow of current customers and direct high-value customers to potential products from a multi-product service offering array. These efforts can succeed only if retail bank marketers focus the promotion of the new products and services that can utilise this channel toward those customers who are most likely to find them attractive. The first aim of this study was to examine the role that online and electronic banking play in defining the customer's primary financial relationship. The analysis of 701 retail customers of a financial institution presented in this study suggests that banks and other institutions are highly vulnerable to loss of customers to rivals with extensive online services. A second aim was to examine to what extent information on banking relationships is able to extend CRM analysis beyond that offered by typical demographic and income data. Current customer account relationships are found to be highly predictive of use of electronic services use in general. And, interest in the use of specific online services is related to differing customer relationships in addition to ordinary demographic and balance information. These findings can be useful for retail banking in identifying potential high-value users from a customer relationship management perspective.     

The impact of brand experience,service quality and perceived value on word of mouth of retail bank customers: investigating the mediating effect of loyalty

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of the antecedents—brand experience, service quality, and perceived value on word of mouth (WOM) recommendations by retail banking customers in an emerging market. The paper also investigates the mediating effect of loyalty on WOM with respect to the abovementioned antecedents. A survey of 412 retail customers of various banks in India was undertaken using a structured questionnaire developed using existing constructs. The results show that brand experience, service quality, and perceived value have a significant impact on WOM recommendations of customers of retail banks. Further, the relationships between the abovementioned antecedents and WOM are mediated by loyalty. This study makes several contributions to the academic literature. First, it establishes the importance of brand experience, service quality, and perceived value as antecedents of WOM in the context of retail banks in an emerging market. Second, it also establishes that loyalty plays a mediating role for the abovementioned antecedents for WOM recommendations by retail customers of banks in an emerging market.     

Customer readiness to co-production of mobile banking services: a customer-only co-production perspective

This paper aimed to identify the antecedents and corollary of customer readiness for co-production in customer-only co-production services using mobile banking services as a context. Using a structured questionnaire, data were gathered from a sample of mobile banking customers in Ghana and the UK and the data analysis was facilitated by structural equation modelling. From the findings, the antecedents were customer socialisation, customer self-efficacy and customer motivation and the corollary was service productivity. The findings provide managers of customer-only co-production or technology-based services particularly mobile banking services with the specific factors that can be managed strategically and tactically to enhance customer readiness for co-production and service productivity. This study is one of a kind to conceptualise and empirically identify the antecedents and corollary of customer readiness for co-production within the customer-only co-production context. However, as the study was limited to mobile banking services, future studies might test the research model in other customer-only technology-based services.

     

Customer retention measurement in the UAE banking sector

This aper investigates how image, perceived service quality and satisfaction determine retention in a retail bank setting. Data were collected from retail banking customers in the United Arab Emirates. The results show that image is both directly and indirectly related to retention via satisfaction, while perceived service quality is indirectly related to retention via satisfaction. The paper concludes that satisfaction is not the sole determinant of retention in retail banking. The managerial and research implications of the study are also discussed.     

Online banking services: a meta-analytic review and assessment of the impact of antecedents and consequents on satisfaction

This paper provides a meta-analysis of the generalizations in the relationships between the antecedents and consequents of satisfaction with online banking services. In total, 118 observations were analysed, with a sample of 49,607 respondents in 39 published articles from studies indexed in ten databases (Jstor, Emerald, PsycINFO, Taylor & Francis, Elsevier Science Direct, Scopus, ProQuest, SciELO, Google Scholar and EBSCO). Specifically, for the data analysis, we used the correlation coefficient r (plus χ², f test, t test, z test and β values). The results showed that constructs related to uncertainty, as evoked by online devices, system performance, quality of device content and online banking device structures, are significant and positive antecedents of consumer satisfaction. We also found that satisfaction with online banking services promotes trust and loyalty. Finally, we also detected that the relationship between reliability, satisfaction and service quality is stronger among Western banking consumers.     

Perceived risk and tampering with nature

It is proposed that risk perception is partly driven by notions of what is seen as unnatural and immoral activities of modern technology, e.g. nuclear technology. The dimension of tampering with nature is found, in two large-scale survey studies of the general public and, in one case, of politicians involved in the environmental field, to be an important predictor of perceived risk. In one study, the perceived risk of nuclear waste was investigated, and in the other the perceived risk of a potential nuclear disaster of the Chernobyl kind. It was found that tampering with nature was a much stronger predictor of perceived risk than the traditional psychometric model dimensions, and that it absorbed most or all of the predictive power of these dimensions when entered in a common regression equation. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Mobile banking: A powerful new marketing and CRM tool for financial services companies all over Europe

In the last decade mobile handsets have become ubiquitous. There are three times as many mobile phone users as online PCs and they are becoming very sophisticated and demanding users. Increasingly they will expect real-time information and access 24 hours a day, seven days a week, wherever they are in the world — and they want very high levels of service. This paper looks at how and why financial organisations across Europe are beginning to take advantage of mobile services and in particular mobile banking as a powerful new marketing tool to build long-lasting and mutually rewarding relationships with new and existing customers. Examples show how European financial organisations are using mobile banking to improve their customer service and relationships, to reinforce their brand by literally placing it in their customer's pocket and to reduce their costs.