Building E-Loyalty in Digital Banking: How Perceived Value and Trust Translate Service Quality into Customer Commitment

Abstract

With the gradual migration of banking to online platforms, the drivers of customer loyalty now represent the point of focus by managers and researchers. This study explores how the customer ratings on the quality of e-banking services affect their loyalty intentions, the mediating effect of perceived value, and trust. Using the Cognitive-Motivational-Relational (CMR) theory, the study conceptualizes loyalty as the result of a process of a psychological appraisal by customers who examine the performance of service, appraise the value of the performance and develop confidence in the provider. The results obtained using the data on active e-banking users underwent structural equation modelling, which disclosed that the perception of reliability, security and efficiency of e-banking services make the customers more prone to realize the value addition and build stronger trust in the bank. Both perceived value and e-trust are strong contributors to loyalty and important mediating variables between the quality of service and the intentions to use it further. The results of this study suggest that digital loyalty is not only determined by technical performance, but also by larger cognitive and relational evaluations of customers regarding their banking experience.