Managing Service Quality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the behaviour of Portuguese users and non-users of self-service technologies (SSTs) in banking services.

Design/methodology/approach – An empirical study is conducted by means of a survey questionnaire. Data are collected from a sample of 300 respondents chosen to represent the Portuguese adult population in terms of age, gender, and geographical place of residence.

Findings – The results show that Portuguese users of SST banking services are likely to be young to middle-aged individuals, with medium to high levels of education. They have a greater propensity to complain and are more price-sensitive than non-users of such services.

Research limitations/implications – Only six dimensions of consumer behaviour were investigated: price sensitivity, satisfaction, word-of-mouth, repurchase intention, propensity to change banks, complaint behaviour. Only three forms of SST contact were examined (ATMs, telephone banking, and internet banking). Other behaviours and SSTs could be examined in future research.

Practical implications – Banks investing in SST can expect: more sales (consumers with higher intention to repurchase); more opportunities for service recovery (consumers with higher propensity to complain); and more price competitiveness (more price-sensitive consumer behaviour).

Originality/value – This is the first study to examine consumer behaviour among Portuguese customers of SST banking services. The study shows that SST does not ensure consumer satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth; moreover, it is not a barrier to changing banks.