Influence of Customer Perception Factors on AI-Enabled Customer Experience in the Ecuadorian Banking Environment

Abstract

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.

Evaluation of the Benefits Generated by Sustainability 4.0: A Study of the Perception of Banking Sector Customers

“…Additionally, 24.44% have had a relationship between 5 and 10 years, while 12.22% are in the range of 1 to 5 years, and only 1.11% have been customers of their banks for less than a year. These results highlight the stability and trust established over time by customers in relation to banking institutions, a perception that is in line with the analyses by [22,23,31].…”

“…Increase satisfaction, ease of use, and reduction in time spent on banking demands Integrity of the services provided; attention to business sustainability [20,21] Artificial Intelligence Improved customer service Loss of privacy and protection, lack of government regulation [22] Fintechs Ease of use, perceived value, quality of support, reliability, perceived risk, innovation capacity, cost reduction.…”

“…At the same time, financial institutions focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) seek to reap the benefits of reduced operational costs, greater proximity to customers, higher revenues, and innovation in financial products and services. In a digitalized context, where financial operations are predominantly conducted by AI algorithms, capturing customer preferences and perceptions becomes an essential practice in the contemporary banking industry [22].…”

“…In this way, customer loyalty plays a crucial role in the sustainable development of a banking company, considering that the cost of acquiring new customers is substantially higher than the cost of retaining existing ones [23], and developing and maintaining customer loyalty is a critical issue for companies, as customer loyalty not only contributes to the generation of new business but is also capable of engaging new customers, promoting the growth of the bank's reputation [31]. Furthermore, as highlighted by [22], customer perception is central to this process, because by understanding customer needs and demands, financial institutions can establish a long-term bank-customer connection based on the services provided to their consumers.…”

“…Regarding the occurrence of bank accounts, traditional banks emerged as leaders, representing 57.07% of participants' choices. Notably, 73.33% of customers named traditional banks as their main bank account, a possible explanation for these findings would be the challenges presented by [14] regarding traditional banks, as customers begin to adopt digital banks in their secondary accounts, but also cautiously, due to the possible risks of this new scenario [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”