Research Article Open Access

E-banking Complexities and the Perpetual Effect on Customer Satisfaction in Rwandan Commercial Banking Industry: Gender as a Moderating Factor

Abstract

The marvelous kinds of innovation in technology and hard line blend of it with information technology has made a paradigm shift in the banking industry. Transformation from traditional, bricks-and-mortar banking to E-banking has been momentous. The major innovation in technology have been a major force in the radical transformation that has led to the geographical, legal and industrial barriers and has led to the creation of new products and services more so in the banking industry. E-banking can be traced back to as early as 1970s. The main two reason as to why banks began replacing some of their traditional branch functions include:- Firstly, the setup and maintenance of branches was very expensive because of the overhead expenses associated with them, and Secondly, E-banking products/services created a completive advantage for the banks that utilized them. E-banking is a composite of various or technologies, such as telephone (both landline and cell phones), direct bill payment i.e. (Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)) and PC or Internet banking and mobile banking. The five main basic services associated with ebanking include: view of account balances and transaction histories; paying bills; transferring funds between accounts; requesting credit card advances; and ordering checks. The objective of this study to evaluate the perceptual view of the male and female respondents on the e-banking complexities and how they affect the male and female customer’s satisfaction. The research evaluated the view of the respondents based on their demographic profile on the E-banking complexities and its effects on their satisfaction. This research was perceptual-tailored and relationship-oriented; identifying the underpinning e-banking complexities, and how they are influenced by the customer’s gender and its effect on customer satisfaction. The study used the descriptive and co relational research designs. The respondents sampled in this study were only users of the e-banking services. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was 0.91. A data set to test the proposed model came from self-constructed, statistically validated and self-administered survey of a convenience sample of retail banking customers. A self structured questionnaire was distributed to 250 bank customers in various commercial banks that use e-banking services. The statistical result reveal that there exists a strong relationship between electronic banking complexities- Ease of Access/Accessibility, Inter-Phase Design, Cost/ Fees/Charges, E-Banking Equipment usage, Privacy/Risk/Authentication, and Customer Satisfaction, and customer satisfactions with the female respondents exemplifying higher satisfaction levels than their male counterparts. The male respondent’s seemingly portrayed having experienced e-banking complexities in the usage of e-banking, than female. On the individual dimensions of e-banking complexities on overall customer satisfaction indicates Accessibility/ Ease of access, Inter-phase Design/Feel, Ease of E-equipment’s usage, had a significant impact, on customer satisfaction for male and female customer while Privacy/Authentication had a significant impact, on customer satisfaction for male customers only. Cost/fees and charges, had no significant impact on customer satisfaction for male and female customer, while Privacy/Authentication had no significant impact, on customer satisfaction for female customers only.

Machogu AM and Okiko L

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