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ABSTRACT
At first sight the Internet is the ideal medium for carrying out banking activities due to its cost savings potential and speed of information transmission. From a technological and cost-driven standpoint it may seem quite logical for banks to shift as many banking activities online as possible. At the same time, the question of how to foster customer loyalty arises when the relationship between the bank and the user becomes a virtual one.
This paper investigates the importance of antecedents of online loyalty such as trust, quality of the Web site, quality of the service and overall satisfaction. Rather than investigating which factors drive customers to use online banking instead of offline banking, this paper addresses the problem of how to keep customers online and loyal to a specific supplier.
A survey among more than 2,000 customers of an Austrian online bank was conducted and a structural equation modeling approach was used to gain important insights into how customer retention in the online banking business can be ensured. Satisfaction and trust were identified as important antecedents of loyalty. Additionally, the moderating role of consumer characteristics (gender, age, involvement, perceived risk and technophobia) was supported by the data.
Keywords: Loyalty, E-Banking, Structural Equation Modeling, Multigroup Analysis
1. Introduction
In order to reap the benefits of having loyal customers and gaining a competitive advantage online, companies need to develop a thorough understanding of the antecedents of loyalty on the World Wide Web (e-loyalty), such as business factors [Bhattacherjee 2001] or personal characteristics [Mägi 2003]. In order to investigate the importance of e-loyalty, the identification of variables influencing repeat purchasing behavior and word-of-mouth recommendation is a crucial area of research [Srinivasan et al. 2002]. This holds especially true for those industries which already depend heavily on their reputations and long-lasting relationships in the offline world, as is the case with the financial sector. The widespread adoption of online banking services calls for research investigating those factors which are responsible for keeping customers loyal.
A model explaining the antecedents of loyalty in the online banking industry has to incorporate factors which take into account the characteristics of the industry as well as those of the medium. Therefore, we consider antecedents such as trust (being important online and...