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Introduction
Online service provision is increasingly becoming a favoured distribution channel by customers and service providers alike. Within recent years there has been a concerted effort by banking institutions to increase the number and range of services provided online. To encourage participation, banks are both rewarding customers for using online services and concurrently penalising customers for utilizing offline services. For example, many banks charge premium fees for customers who withdraw funds from retail shop-fronts rather than ATMs. In addition, banks have created specific online services and products that can only be accessed or managed online.
However, within the context of this drive for online service provision and efficiency, banks appear to recognise that their ongoing success is also reliant upon developing relationships with their customers. For instance, banks have adopted a plethora of security measures designed to encourage customers to "trust" their service infrastructure. However, there is some suggestion that reducing the human element in banking may impact upon customer satisfaction, and impede the development of long lasting relationships with customers ([12] Cox and Dale, 2001; [30] Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi, 2003). To remedy this, it may be necessary for banks to design online services so as to not only satisfy, but "delight" their customers, ensuring both customer retention and loyalty.
Hence there is a need to fully understand customer encounters and interactions within the context of online banking. In particular, this research will examine the following questions: How do customers judge the quality of online banking sites?; Are their expectations any different for online and offline service encounters?; and Can banks rightly expect the same outcomes for online service quality as traditional service quality, for example customer delight, loyalty, strengthening relationships?
Research exploring or explaining such interactions and the differences between online and offline experiences is limited. However, prior research contends (particularly within the banking sector), that success with online experiences mirrors success with traditional face-to-face experiences of customers ([27] Hitt and Frei, 2002).
This paper reports the findings of a research project exploring the link between perceptions of online service quality by bank customers, perceived trustworthiness of online banking services and the impact on customer delight and the strength of the relationship that a customer has with their bank. We were particularly interested in...