Beyond Convenience: How Digital Banking Service Quality Shapes Customer Satisfaction

Abstract

This study examines how six dimensions of digital banking service quality—ease of use, efficiency, privacy and security, reliability, responsiveness, and service-charge perceptions—shape customer satisfaction in Birgunj, Nepal. Quantitative, cross-sectional survey was administered online to active digital-banking users. Convenience sampling generated 292 usable responses. Multi-item constructs were assessed on five-point Likert scales. The analysis used frequencies, means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression in SPSS 26. Mobile banking was the dominant channel (70.2%), and 56.2% of respondents used digital banking daily. All service-quality dimensions were positively associated with satisfaction. The regression model explained 65.4% of its variance (R²=.654; adjusted R²=.649). Privacy and security was the strongest reported predictor (β=.267, p=.001), followed by efficiency, reliability, responsiveness, service-charge perceptions, and ease of use. Banks in Birgunj should prioritize cybersecurity, transparent privacy communication, reliable platforms, rapid assistance, simple interfaces, and transparent charges. The study provides city-level evidence from Madhesh Province, a commercially important but underexamined setting, and shows that trust-related service attributes remain central even where mobile banking use is widespread.