Key Drivers of Customer Loyalty in Online Banking

Abstract

1. IntroductionInternet and web design have been the most exciting developments in the field of information and communications technology in recent years. With increasing Internet access, the phenomenon of using Online Banking (or Internet banking or E-banking) services is booming greatlyOnline banking refers to the banking services provided via a secure website operated by online bank-service provider to facilitate the use of the internet as a remote banking-service delivery channel. Online banking allows bank customers with appropriate access to manage their finances with minimal inconvenience as it provides a fast and convenient way to undertake various banking transactions from home, office, or elsewhere via online banking websites (Beh Yee & Faziharudean, 2010).According to Reichheld & Schefter (2000), the high costs associated with winning new online-banking customers make it necessary for the banks to keep their current customers and make them loyal. Presently, customer loyalty in online banking sector has become a critical issue because of its great and positive impact on banks' long-term profitability. Since the competition is just a click of the mouse away, customer loyalty in online banking is very important for both and competitive reasons (Floh & Treiblmaier, 2006). Hence there is a need to understand how customer loyalty in online banking can be ensured and maintained.Customer loyalty is a concept that has been studied in a good number of researches. Previous studies have found that in online banking, service quality (or eservice quality), customer satisfaction (e-satisfaction) and customer trust (or e-trust) have direct or indirect effects on customer loyalty (or e-loyalty). However, these studies have not fully demonstrated the combined effects of these factors and their impacts on e-loyalty. Therefore, important research gaps that needs be filled still exist. Therefore, in this research, we will thoroughly investigate the effects that these factors have on e-loyalty both individually and collectively by developing and testing some relevant hypotheses. Single and multiple regression models will be fitted and used for the analyses and for testing the hypotheses developed.1. Literature Review1.1. E-Service QualityFogli (2006, p.4) defined service quality as a global judgment or attitude relating to a particular service; the customer's overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. Service quality is a cognitive judgment. According to Lapierre et al. (1996), the concept of service quality is linked to the concepts of perceptions and expectations. Service quality perceived by the customers is the result of comparing the expectations about the service they are going to receive and their perceptions of the service provider's action. If perceptions exceed expectations, the services provided by the banks will be considered excellent (Vazquez et al., 2001).As discussed by Shahrzad Shahriari (2014), service quality in online banking has a lot of underlying dimensions which includes reliability, responsiveness, security, ease of use, access and so on. Reliability includes correctness of order fulfilment, prompt delivery and billing accuracy. Responsiveness concerns the willingness or readiness of employees to provide service. Security includes security of information and minimal online purchases risks. Ease of use related to easy-touse URL address, well organized, well-structured and easy-to-follow a catalogue, site navigability and concise and understandable content, terms and conditions. Access includes the list of company's streets and email address, phone and fax number, accessibility of service representatives, availability of chat room, bulletin board and other communication channels.In online environments, service quality is defined as the ability of a website to make efficient and effective shopping, purchasing and transporting of products and services (Zeithaml et al. …