DIGITAL BANKING AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP IN BANKING INDUSTRY IN KENYA
Githuku Wanjiku Margaret - Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management), Kenyatta University, Kenya
Dr. Reuben Njuguna Kinyuru - Department of Business Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Adoption of digital banking as a platform for banking services has continued to rise globally as consumers become more and more comfortable with using mobile and Internet channels for banking. Banks on the other hand are continuously breaking away from the traditional branch banking by embracing digital banking mainly to cut cost and win the young tech-savvy customers. In Kenya this has been seen with the rise of mobile banking, internet banking and other digital platforms employed by various commercial banks in Kenya. Nevertheless, there’s a gap about how these digitization of banking have affected customer relationship among commercial banks in Kenya. This prompted the research to find out the effects of digital banking on customer relationship in banking industry in Kenya. The specific objectives of this study were to determine the effect of digital banking perceived benefits like convenience of online transactions, decision support systems, online customer care support systems and interactivity on bank-customer relationship in banking industry in Kenya. The research investigated 120 customers randomly selected from 6 commercial banks based in Nairobi with two banks randomly selected from each tier. The 6 banks acted as a sample of the 43 registered commercial banks in Kenya.To achieves this, the study employed the theory of disruptive innovation and Technology Acceptance Model. Semi structured questionnaires will be used to collect data and a descriptive statistics analysis was used to analyze the data. The collected data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics and the results presented using frequency tables, charts and graphs. A linear regression model was also be used to determine the effect that the independent variables has on the dependent variable. From the presented information, conclusions on whether and how these digital banking affects customer relationship among commercial banks in Kenya were be drawn and recommendations made from there. In conclusion it was observed that the commercial banks locally and globally are immensely implementing digital banking to minimize the costs related to the traditional brick and motor banks and also to stay competitive and retain market share in the digital oriented market. The banks are constantly investing in information technologies that aim to put them above their rivals. The bank’s main assets are the customers and therefore these customers are meant to be treated well and a profitable relationship sustained.
