ABSTRACT
This paper explores the consumer decision-making process when using service delivery
channels. Among service delivery channels, the main focus of the research concerns
technology-based delivery channels. Technology continues to change the delivery function of
companies and to affect customers’ usage decisions regarding the delivery channels available.
Understanding how customers react to the technology-content of channels and decide how to
use the delivery channels of the firm is a key asset for achieving profitability and
differentiation. This conclusion is particularly valuable as firms address the financial impact
of new technology-based channels and their success in transferring low value-added
transactions to electronic channels. Despite the development of new technology-based
delivery channels, there is limited knowledge about how customers react to, choose and use
these channels.
The paper addresses this research void by developing a model that describes
customers’ attitudes and usage frequency behavior in the context of banking delivery
channels. A set of hypotheses concerning affective and cognitive determinants of consumers’
behavior is derived from the model. These hypotheses were generated after extensive
research into the fields of services marketing, psychology and innovation theories, together
with insights provided by a series of in-depth interviews conducted with bank managers and
customers. A questionnaire was mailed to users of the four main bank delivery channels. The
findings demonstrate that consumer decision concerning usage frequency differs between
delivery channels, and illustrate which factors should be stressed in order to affect this
decision.
INTRODUCTION
Technology is increasingly transforming the marketplace into a marketspace (Rayport and
Sviokla, 1995), by expanding the delivery channels consumers have available. This
technology infusion in services has changed the nature of service encounters, which are now
conceptualized as “the dynamic relationship between employees, customers, and technology”
(Bitner et al., 2000). The various levels of technology infusion will determine different types
of interaction between a firm and its customers. Conceptually, the delivery channels of a firm
can be categorized according to the type of interaction generated: face-to-face interactions,
such as those occurring in a bank’s branches, can be characterized as high touch/low tech,
whereas remote interactions mediated by technology (face-to-technology), such as those
occurring through the ATM network or the Internet, are characterized as high tech/low touch.