IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC BANKING SERVICE ON CUSTOMERS’ SATISFACTION IN ADDIS ABABA (THE CASE OF SELECTED COMMERCIAL BANKS)

Abstract

The objective of the study is to assess and examine the influence of e-banking service on customer satisfaction, its relation with demographic characteristics (age, education level & occupation) and the major opportunities and challenges of e-banking activities to satisfy customers of selected private and public commercial banks in Addis Ababa. A total of 160 questionnaires wereproperly filled and returned and interview with four branch managers and e-banking customer service heads were conducted as purposive and convenience sampling were employed. For the purpose of the study primary data were collected using likert scale based questionnaires. And the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (ANOVA test, correlation analysis& multiple regression models). The study used ANOVA test to see the relationship between demographic character and customer satisfaction in e-banking, correlation analysis to observe the relationship and regression analysis to explain the variables which determine e-banking induced customer satisfaction. The empirical findings show that service quality dimensions (reliability, assurance, responsiveness, empathy and tangibility) have significant relationship with customer satisfaction in e-banking. The four service quality dimensions (reliability, assurance, responsiveness & empathy) have positive and significant impact on customer satisfaction in e-banking of both public and private commercial banks in Addis Ababa. However tangibility has no influence on customer satisfaction. Thus the respective management bodies of commercial banks should work more to strengthen this service dimension. There is also a relationship between e-banking induced customer satisfaction and demographic characteristics (age & education level of e- banking users). Although the opportunities of e-banking is promising, the fundamental challenging problems faced by commercial banks in relation to e-banking is infrastructural barriers such as network failure, low level of internet penetration, unreliable power supply, requirements of heavy investment and lack of ICT knowledge from the customer side so that commercial banks should enhance their internal capacity and work with the government bodies (Ethio-Telecom, Ethiopian electric power & NBE) to acquire modern technological advancement consistently in the city. And the bank should design and implement the mechanism of increasing their electronic banking customers’ confidence, knowledge, and technological skill via sustainable awareness creation programs of using e- banking service in Addis Ababa