The effect of mobile banking e-service on positive word-of-mouth marketing and customers: a case study of South Kalimantan Bank in Indonesia

Various studies on bank customers’ perception of e-service quality are widely done in conventional banks or private banks. However, hardly any study sheds light on the baby boomers and X generation customers on how their perceptions of e-service quality and satisfaction affect positive word-of-mouth (WOM) in a regional government-owned bank. This study aims to analyze the effect of South Kalimantan Bank (SKB) mobile banking e-service on positive WOM and old SKB customers and the role of customer satisfaction in intervening in the influence of e-service quality on WOM. This study used a structured, self-administered questionnaire based on a convenience sampling method to collect data from 97 customers of an Indonesian regional bank. The study data were analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS). The structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis looked for essential relationships between the variables in the study. The structural findings showed that e-service quality has no direct effect on positive WOM, but e-service quality affects positive WOM through customer satisfaction. The study’s key findings found that although older customers want convenience in mobile banking transactions, they still put security as the main factor. Therefore, it is recommended that banks focus more on user-friendly mobile features than complex features, primarily when serving older customers.