Quality of e-Banking Service Delivery in Sri Lanka and People’s Level of Satisfaction: A Study Conducted in Kiribathgoda Town in Gampaha District

Abstract

In modern society, technology is being applied rapidly to facilitate various activities that are part of human life. One of the most important uses of technology today is to improve the quality of banking services. In this context, e-banking services were introduced to improve the efficiency and convenience of banking services. In Sri Lanka, both the public and private banking sectors have taken the necessary steps to provide very good customer service to the public by using the latest e-banking technologies. All of the larger banking networks offer a wide range of customer services, of which e-banking services could be identified as among the most popular. Accordingly, the research question here is whether e-banking services provide a good quality of service to the customers. The primary objective of this research is to examine the quality of e-banking services and to measure the level of customer satisfaction. Accordingly, the study will attempt to assess the five factors that eventually determine customer satisfaction, and they are reliability, tangibility, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy. Kiribathgoda Town, which is a suburban area, was selected as the study location for this research. Two government banks and two private banks in this township were selected for the analysis. Accordingly, primary data were collected through a questionnaire from public and private bank customers using stratified sampling methods. Secondary data were obtained from sources such as government statistical reports, books, journal articles, and research reports. This paper used Inferential and Descriptive Statistical methods. The main research findings revealed that the e-banking service quality was the leading factor that directly and indirectly influenced the level of customer satisfaction. There was no significance in the relationship between customer satisfaction and reliability. However, relationships existed between customer satisfaction and the service components of tangibility, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy. Further, customers’ age and education level did not affect the use of e-banking services, but in general, their monthly incomes did have an influence on their use of e-banking services. The study revealed that the bank customers used e-banking services mainly for withdrawing cash from ATMs and making purchases with the debit/credit card.