Search Results (4)

This study explores the determinants of financial literacy (FL) and the relationship between FL, financial inclusion (FI), and financial well-being (FW-B) in the Ecuadorian banking industry. It also tests the moderating role of digital literacy (DL) on the relationship between FL-FI, FL-FW-B, and FI-FW-B. This study employs a self-designed online questionnaire with a structural equation model to prove the relationship between variables. Among 321 collected data, the final valid dataset consisted of 294 registers. The main findings revealed that (i) financial behavior (FB), financial attitudes (FA), and financial skills (FS) have a significant and positive influence over FL, (ii) FL positively affects FI and FW-B, (iii) FI has a positive and significant relationship with FW-B, and (iv) DL does not moderate the relationship between variables, given DL depends on socio-economic factors (especially educational aspects) and the degree of technology and innovation adopted by digital banking customers. Study results are aligned with previous studies in the United States, India, Greece, and Finland. This study contributes to the research by offering a complete view of the importance of transcendence of the presence of FL in educational programs to improve the FI, financial development, and FW-B of banking customers. The study limitation is the absence of the FL index in the Ecuadorian environment. For future research, the study recommends performing a longitudinal study of FL and FI and including different statuses and categories to test the econometric model. Full article

This study reviews the relationship between customer perception factors and AI-enabled customer experience in the Ecuadorian banking industry. The study employs a self-designed online questionnaire with five factors for customer perception (convenience in use, personalization, trust, customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction) and two categories for AI-enabled customer experience (AI-hedonic customer experience and AI-recognition customer service). The final valid dataset consisted of 226 questionnaires. The data analysis and the hypotheses tests were conducted using SPSS 26 and structural equation modeling, respectively. The main findings displayed that all five customer perception factors (individual and joint effect) have a positive and significant effect (at least at the 5% level) on AI-enabled customer experience, AI-hedonic customer experience, and AI-recognition customer service in the Ecuadorian banking industry. Study results are aligned with previous findings from other countries, particularly the banking environment in the United Kingdom, Canada, Nigeria, and Vietnam. The AI techniques involved in the financial sector increase the valuation of customer experience due to AI algorithms recollecting, processing, and analyzing customer behavior. This study contributes a complete statistical and econometric model for determinants of AI-enabled customer experience. The main limitations of the study are that, in the analysis of the most demanded AI financial services, not all services and products are included and the inexistence of a customer perception index. For upcoming research, the authors recommend performing a longitudinal study using quantitative data to measure the effect of AI-enabled customer experience on the Ecuadorian banks’ performance. Full article

This study examines the relationship between customer perception and financial corporate performance in the Ecuadorian banking environment. A self-designed online questionnaire was carried out to gather information regarding customer perception factors (tangibility, trust and service guarantee, empathy, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty), while the financial data of the Ecuadorian banks were attained from their annual financial indicator reports (financial efficiency and liquidity). A total of 243 questionnaires were recollected and 219 were considered as the final valid data. SPSS 26 was utilized for data analyses. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Our findings revealed that customer perception has a positive and significant (at least at the 5% level) impact on the financial performance of banks. Similarly, customer loyalty is influenced by tangibility, trust and service guarantee, empathy, and customer satisfaction. Study results are mostly consistent with the banking environment of other countries, especially Nigeria, and Scandinavian nations. Bank managers might always prioritize the customer perception of the bank due to it being considered a strong predictor of the bank’s financial performance. This study provides a complete statistical and econometrical model with tangible and intangible factors of customer perception (qualitative variables) and it includes financial records (quantitative variables). The main limitation of our study is the calculation of the customer perception index because Ecuadorian institutions do not calculate it and thus, we estimate the index in our model. For future research, the suggestion is that a corporate governance index with a customer perception component is included to improve the model. Full article

This study explores the relationship between corporate performance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the Ecuadorian banking environment. The first model employs both return on assets and return on equity as proxy for the financial performance while the second model includes the non-financial corporate performance constructs collected by a self-designed online questionnaire. We found a statistically positive relationship among CSR initiates and the financial and non-financial indicators in corporate performance. Our findings revealed that economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibility initiatives positively affect the non-financial corporate performance of the Ecuadorian banking environment. Similarly, the non-financial corporate performance is significantly positively influenced by the customer’s brand trust, customer’s brand loyalty, customer’s perception of quality, and customer satisfaction. Study results are mostly consistent with the banking environment of other countries, especially in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Lebanon. Customers of the Ecuadorian banking environment perceived banks as socially responsible entities and Ecuadorian banks invest resources in CSR activities as a corporate governance policy to increase their financial and non-financial performance. Future research should include a corporate governance index with a CSR component as an independent variable to increase statistical models’ power. Full article