Investigating the effect of internet banking factors on customer loyalty of Parsian Bank in Rasht

Academic Thesis for obtaining a Master's Degree Field: Business Management, International Business Orientation

Abstract:

In today's world, banking is one of the vital factors in the development of countries. In this way, customers have a special priority as the reason for existence and in the continuation of banking life. This research aims to investigate the effect of the effective factors of internet banking on the loyalty of customers of Parsian Bank in Rasht city. It tests five hypotheses that the variables of internet banking include service quality, perception and value, trust, habit and reputation. The statistical population of the research consists of all the people who refer to Parsian Bank branches in Rasht city. The size of the population is unlimited, so Cochran's formula was used to determine the sample size, and the sample size was n=384. Also, random sampling method was used.

In order to investigate this relationship, a questionnaire was used to investigate and to answer it, a Likert point spectrum was used. In order to statistically analyze the data, various statistical tests, including the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Pearson test, as well as the regression model, have been used.

The results of the test show that except for the service quality index, all internet banking indicators, including perception and value, trust, habit, reputation, are effective on the loyalty of Parsian Bank customers. The obtained results generally emphasize the existence of an acceptable level of fit between factors affecting customer loyalty, and according to the results, acceptable comments have been made on the level of customer loyalty.

Key words: Internet banking, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, service quality, perception and value, trust, habit, reputation

Introduction

One of the most important phenomena caused by the information revolution, transformation in Traditional ways of doing business and replacing it with electronic business. Therefore, due to the role of money and banking in business, electronic banking is considered the main infrastructure of electronic commerce. Naturally, among these, the role of banks and economic institutions in money transfer is very vital. When in 1994 the Internet demonstrated its commercial capabilities in addition to scientific and research projects, commercial institutions and banks in advanced countries were the first institutions to make serious efforts to use this flow as much as possible. The product of their efforts is today's electronic banking. Then it quickly became clear that the Internet is a very suitable platform for all kinds of banking and economic activities. Electronic banking has now become a very specialized and at the same time very complex issue in the world, and its adaptation to the commercial and economic policies of different countries requires careful research and planning (Mirabi, 2017, p. 27). to provide and on the other hand to satisfy their customers. In this regard, despite the progress of electronic money services and payment tools in the country, we are at the beginning of using integrated information systems to electronicize intra-bank and inter-bank interactions and connect customers to the bank online. For this reason, information technology has not been able to reduce costs and make banking services cheaper, as well as eliminate traditional procedures such as the development of physical bank branches and banknotes (Qalipour, 2008, p. 83). In this way, customers have a special priority as the reason for existence and in the continuation of banking life. Considering that the bank is a financial and credit institution whose main capital and financial resources are provided through deposits and providing services to customers.

Customer loyalty has been considered as a key factor in the success and profitability of banks.

The issue that should be considered today is that organizations should believe that any action to retain customers is useful and beneficial, because most research shows that the cost of attracting a new customer is many times higher than the cost of keeping an existing customer, and the profitability of current customers is based on the assumption that their "life cycle value" is positive. Oliver ([1]) in 1997 in the conceptual framework of the full spectrum of loyalty and brand based on the Hierarchy of Influences model, which consists of 4 stages of recognition, influence, decision to buy and action to buy. The definition that includes all the stages of this model and presents a single concept of them is a strong commitment to repurchase and continuous support of a particular product or service in the future, despite the change in environmental conditions and the marketing efforts of competitors, which has the ability to change the behavior and attitude of customers of a particular product (service), which may even lead to the purchase of other products (services) of that brand, so knowing the customer fully and putting him first are among the factors that guarantee success in today's business market. Therefore, having new strategies, paying attention to the important points in establishing, maintaining and expanding relationships with customers and trying to attract their satisfaction expands the realization of customer-oriented goals and brings a base of loyal customers in the long term.

1-2) Statement of the problem

The emergence and progress of the digital revolution and information technology changed the speed of changes, in a way that humans, as its creators, have not yet been able to adapt to it. In the meantime, banks were able to experience a new generation of customers by creating electronic banking, by removing the two restrictions of time and place from banking services and with the help of the Internet platform, to increase the speed of the exchange approach from offline to online. Therefore, the profitability of banks and Parsian Bank is in attracting a larger share of these customers and especially their loyalty to the bank. Innovations and technologies provided by banks are one of the basic components of the configuration of modern service and production organizations, which not only have high security, but also play a dominant and decisive role in relation to other elements (Del Afrooz, Kerami, 2018). The life of human societies throughout history has always faced many changes.

Since the last decade of the 20th century and the emergence of the digital revolution and information technology, the speed of change has penetrated all the pillars of human life and has disrupted the previous relative peace and gradual transformation with power and speed, and has made the concepts and strategies that have been the socio-economic life partner of humans for years meaningless for the new generation and has created the grounds for a generational break in the same time (Joindeh, Pidayi, 2012). In such an era, success belongs only to those societies and organizations that understand the ruling paradigm well and find solutions to live in it, according to the conditions and requirements. Therefore, revising definitions, strategies and solutions is an inevitable necessity for organizations. With the advent of internet banking, a new generation of customers entered the arena. In order to obtain a greater share of the profit of the competitive market, banks should take action to attract as much as possible this generation of customers and their loyalty, and Parsian Bank is not separate from this category (Jouindeh, Piadaei, 2013). Loyalty is an important factor in the success of the organization and has a positive effect on the profit of the organization. In the term, customer loyalty is said to be a state where the customer is at a higher level of satisfaction, has a constant purchase, does not pay attention to competitors, and praises the organization to others (Oliver, 1999).

Therefore, identifying the factors affecting internet loyalty and the importance of each of these factors with the aim of achieving profit and a greater share of the market and survival in the competitive market, has been investigated and an attempt is made to answer the question whether Is internet banking related to customer loyalty?

1-3) Theoretical framework and conceptual model of the research:

The process of conducting the thesis is that first its theoretical framework is determined through studying and interviewing experts and examining various opinions about the relationship between internet banking and customer loyalty. Then the indicators of internet banking and customer loyalty are extracted and analyzed through the study of various researches that were conducted all over the world. The theoretical framework of the research is as follows: Internet banking is a causal condition for realizing customer loyalty.