Technology, Customer Satisfaction and Commercial Banks in Oman with Reference to Bank Dhofar

Technology, Customer Satisfaction and Commercial Banks in Oman with Reference to Bank Dhofar

Marwan Saood Al Zadjali, Dr. Baby Thomas

Oman College of Management and Technology, Banking industry of Oman

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51244/IJRSI.2024.1104012

Received: 13 March 2024; Revised: 24 March 2024; Accepted: 27 March 2024; Published: 28 April 2024

BANKING INDUSTRY OF OMAN

The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) was established on 1^stDecember 1974 under the Banking Law No. 7/74 (amended by Royal Decree No. 114/2000) as a natural result of the development of the monetary and financial system in the Sultanate. In 1970, when His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said ascended to the throne, there was no national authority responsible for supervising the Omani banking system. There were only three banks, and the banking activities were limited. The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has already established two official bodies, the Monetary Authority of Muscat, which was established in 1970 and the Omani Monetary Council, which was established in 1972. Although they did not have full banking powers, they set the stage for the emergence of the Central Bank of Oman.

BANK DHOFAR: COMPANY PROFILE

Bank Dhofar, previously known as Bank Dhofar al Omani al Fransi, was incorporated in January 1990 and commenced operations with two branches, one in Muscat and the other in Salalah. Bank Dhofar currently has nationwide network of 68 branches and 145 ATMs and 52 CDMs across the length and breadth of the Sultanate. As one of the fastest growing financial services institutions in the Sultanate, woofer corporate banking, consumer banking, treasury and project finance services designed to meet different needs of consumers, small and medium size businesses and the mid-market companies in the region.

Key Milestones of Bank Dhofar:

• 1992 – The bank purchased the assets and liabilities of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) from the Central Bank of Oman, thus expanding its network.
• 1999 – A new head office building was established in the Commercial Business District marking the bank’s 10th anniversary.
• 2000 – The bank purchased 16 commercial bank branches, which widened the bank’s network to 43 branches and 55 ATMs.
• 2002 – Merger of Bank Dhofar al Omani al Fransi and Majan International Bank.
• 2003 – The Bank after obtaining all regulatory and administrative approvals shortened its name to Bank Dhofar.
• 2013 – Launch of Maisarah Islamic Banking Services

Oman’s second-largest bank (by market value), Bank Dhofar, has earned the reputation of a financial institution with a strong commitment to consistency and growth. In addition to the conventional banking products and services the bank offers several electronic banking services, such as, Internet banking, Phone Banking, SMS banking, cash deposit and payment machines. With assets worth over OR 4.09 billion, Bank Dhofar is one of the fastest growing banks in the Sultanate of Oman with a strong presence in corporate banking, consumer banking, treasury and project finance. The bank scaled its operations to 68 branches with extensive ATM support that spans all over the country.

Research questions

Banking is predominantly a service oriented industry. In the current competitive world banks have to be highly competitive to offer the best to satisfy its customers through various innovative strategies in order to survive in the industry. This study is an attempt to figure out if the customers of Bank Dhofar are really satisfied with the technologies used. Here are the laid down research questions:

1. What is the perceived level of overall customer satisfaction with the quality of the technologies used for banking services offered by Bank Dhofar?
2. What is the perceived level of customer satisfaction on the technology applications of Bank Dhofar?
3. What are the significant factors of customer satisfaction in terms of the technologies used?
4. What is the perceived brand loyalty of Bank Dhofar customers?

Research objectives

Customer service is a strategic asset that aims to enhance the level of customer satisfaction and build a sustainable reputation for the brand. A product wins its target customers and defines the process by which it meets their needs and expectations by offering quality service resulting in customer satisfaction. The importance of customer service is based on the nature of the product and the nature of the customer.

The study seeks to achieve the following objectives:

5. To find out the perceived level of overall customer satisfaction with the quality of the technologies used for banking services offered by Bank Dhofar
6. To find out the perceived level of customer satisfaction on the technology applications of Bank Dhofar
7. To find out the significant factors of customer satisfaction in terms of the technologies used
8. To find out the perceived brand loyalty of Bank Dhofar customers

LITERATURE REVIEW

Customer satisfaction is the key to long term success of any organization. Keeping the importance of customer satisfaction in mind, banks need to maintain stable and close relationships with their customers. Customer satisfaction levels need to be judged. The application of the knowledge of customer satisfaction is imperative to establishing and maintaining a long-term relationship with customers and long-term competitiveness. Today every business organization faces tough competition with no exemption for financial services or banking industry. Customer service is an integral part of any organization and it is necessary to identify its key success factors. To develop and sustain banking businesses should have quality customer service that can link cordial relation with customers and result in high satisfaction level of the customer. According to Lotfabadi et al (2024), in contrast to products, customers are not really able to appraise services before the service process takes place. The contact with the service provider and the customers is the key in the evaluation of service performance. The customer’s service experience is defined by the interaction with the organization, the processes and the employees. According to Soo-Young (2022) service providers have considerable occasions to control the connections that mutually form the experience. In banking system, satisfaction is elucidated as if it is multidimensional conception (Almohaimmeed, 2019). Ha (2021) states that customer satisfaction is the situation when customer expectations have been fulfilled to the fullest when using a product. The capacity to ful fil customer expectation consequently brings about strong loyalty to the product of a company. On the other hand, Vembri et al. (2018) stipulated that banks have to be efficient in dealing with individual customers, traders and companies. It is also necessary for banks to strive hard to retain the existing customers in the face attracting new customers. The number of customers served determines the bank’s success. Customers’ confidence and trust on the services delivered by the bank determines the bank’s fate. A full-fledged service delivery to the customers by the bank secures the bank’s survival. Banks as the major financial institution in the country provide various services to customers. The major services rendered by banks include the accepting deposits, extending credit services and the provision of international banking services and others. The major objective of this study is to analyse customers’ satisfaction on banking services in Jimma, Ethiopia (Huang & Nuangjamnong, 2023). Evaluating customer satisfaction has become increasingly popular in the last two decades and thus important for generating revenues for market research companies (Yum & Yoo, 2023).This popularity derives from the acceptance, that the satisfaction construct is a predictor for repurchase intentions, word-of-mouth and loyalty. As Namini (2016) points out that customer satisfaction is a better predictor of customer intentions to rebuy than service quality does. Satisfied customers are considered to maintain contact with the company, buy more products very often. Abadi et al. (2020) add the likelihood of acceptance of other products in the product line and the favour able word-of-mouth. By studying the level of customer satisfaction and marketing strategies in both private and public sector banks in India, it revealed six factors of customer satisfaction in public sector banks viz, routine operations, price, situational environmental technology and interaction. But in private banking sector, they found seven factors in total, having staff factors as the top ranked and situational factors as the lowest ranked items. Instead of price factor, promotional factors have been explored by researchers. In private sector banks, the customer level of satisfaction is comparatively more (Priya, 2020). The researcher conducted a study on the impact of service quality and customer satisfaction in commercial banks. This study shows that there is a close link between the customers’ perception on the service quality factor and customer satisfaction. It further showed that the impact of the service quality factor on customer satisfaction is unique. It brought the suggestion that bank managers have to formulate appropriate marketing strategies to satisfy their customers Lin et al. (2023). Also, revealed that in order to achieve customer satisfaction, it is imperative for banks to make use of different tools that varies from reengineering of services to focusing on specific tasks. In addition, Yapp and Yeap (2023) study involves a national survey of the customers patronizing 814 banks in an attempt to determine customer satisfaction and reveals that cross-selling hinges on high level of customer satisfaction. The study also reveals a very high correlation between satisfaction scores and customers’ predisposition to repurchase. In short, for happy customers to provide recommendations through word-of-mouth to others, they must be satisfied (Mogire et al. 2023). In addition, the study involved asking customers various questions concerning their satisfaction with the banks. Data collected were utilized to benchmark customer satisfaction scores of banks participating in the financial client satisfaction index. The findings revealed that the most significant attributes that results in satisfaction include human interaction issues like ‘correcting errors promptly’, ‘courteous employees’ and ‘professional behavior’. Moreover, the findings also revealed that the provision of good personal service is considered by the clients as more important than convenience or products (Zhao et al. 2023). In another study, claimed that the key to obtaining competitive advantage in the banking business is to be customer-driven. In other words, the entire aspects are that the institution should concentrate on the factors that the customers hold dear that exceeds customer expectations. Several studies evidenced that by concentrating on and delivering excellent customer satisfaction outcome, firms achieve superior profitability. Hence, improving customer service may entail training procedure or enhancement of computer information systems of banks. While improving customer service leads to increased costs, it may also steer clearing tangible of intangible costs. Bankers can develop quantitative data through researching customer satisfaction, in the hopes of stressing that the emphasis and delivery of exceptional customer satisfaction can lead to improved revenue that is higher than increased costs (Ismail & Sufardi, 2016). In a related study, the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction was investigated and was concluded by identifying five factors of service quality that were critical. They are enumerated as follows:

1. Core service or service product – service content
2. The human element of the service delivery including reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and service recovery – all a part of the human element when delivering the service.
3. Service delivery systemization which refers to processes, procedures, systems and technology that helps in making the provision of service in a seamless manner.
4. Service tangibles which refer to equipment, signage, employees’ appearance and the man-made physical environment characterizing the service – commonly called the ‘service space.’
5. Social responsibility is the service provider’s ethical behavior and activities.

The above study indicated the close relation between service quality and customer satisfaction in a way that an increase in one factor leads to the increase in the other (Zeglat & Mukattash,2023).

The importance of measurement of customer satisfaction lies in the fact that one key to customer retention is customer satisfaction. A highly satisfied customer generally stays longer, buys more as the bank introduces new products and upgrades the existing products (services), talks favour ably to others about the company, pays less attention to competing brands, offers product ideas to the bank, and costs less to serve than new customers because transactions can become routine. Greater customer satisfaction has also been linked to higher returns and faster company growth. The measurement of customer satisfaction is not possible unless the factors leading to customer satisfaction are determined. For this reason, the factors leading to customer satisfaction need to be found out.

In addition, customer satisfaction is imperative for the long-term success of any organization. More the competition, higher is the necessity to keep the customers satisfied. Keeping the importance of customer satisfaction in mind, banks need to maintain stable and close relationships with their customers. Customer satisfaction levels need to be judged. The application of the knowledge of customer satisfaction is imperative to establishing and maintaining a long-term relationship with customers and long-term competitiveness. Banking is a high involvement industry. Banks recognize the fact that delivery of quality service to customers is essential for success and survival in today’s global and competitive banking environment. Customers’ needs, wants and expectations change quickly. Therefore, what would have delighted and surprised them a short while back might not satisfy them at present. Banks may not be able to provide superior services to customers unless customer expectations are known. Customer expectations can be known through the knowledge of satisfaction levels of customers. This necessitates the measurement of customer satisfaction level. Customer satisfaction cannot be measured unless the factors affecting customer satisfaction are determined. This necessitates an in-depth study about the factors affecting customer satisfaction. So, in the current dynamic and competitive business world, sustainable competitive advantage is driven by the delivery of high-quality service that will result in customer satisfaction. In other words, customer satisfaction is a condition to achieving customer retention and loyalty and can assist in boosting profitability, market share and return on investment.

The research like the views of some writers such as Wang (2017) describes that customer satisfaction is the key to long-term success for organizations, whether companies, banks, agencies, and others. In terms of services quality and its relationship to customer satisfaction, Mahajan et al. (2021)select group of important factors in this context. These factors are related to a close relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Fernando (2019) agree that bank managers are the people who formulate the appropriate marketing strategies to satisfy customers.

METHODOLOGY

The study on customer satisfaction and the technology of service of the selected Bank Dhofarde scribes the process of data collection, the sampling strategy, preparation, trying of questionnaire and the limitations of the study. The study requires the information to be collected from two different sources: the primary and the secondary sources. Descriptive statistics is used for data analysis.

Research design

Descriptive research design was used to conduct the study where survey questionnaires are generally used to generate primary data to analyse it and interpret its results. The survey was on the relationship between customer satisfaction and the banking services provided by Bank Dhofar using its technologies. The survey questionnaires for a random sample which are customers of Bank Dhofar was formulated that comprised the demographic profile of age, gender, and education of customers and the services provided by the banks to

get different study-inputs.

Data collection

The study required the information to be collected from two different sources the primary sources and the secondary sources. Primary data were collected from the customers of Bank Dhofar by distributing the questionnaires and the secondary data were sourced from journals, books, and electronic sources.

Ethical issues

It is now generally agreed that research on human subjects must meet basic ethical standards and that all new research proposals involving human subjects should be submitted to an ethical review process. The need for such review, and its rigor, is primarily determined by the potential risks to participants. It was ensured before collecting the primary data that the data collected from the respondents would be used only for the study purpose and absolutely be confidential.

Sampling design

Bank customers were the target population. The sample was drawn from Bank Dhofar for the study purpose and later to generalize the results. Convenience sampling method was used for collecting the sample from the target population. A sample size of 100 Bank Dhofar customers was chosen for the study. The sample size was rationalized as the sample was drawn only from a particular bank.

Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire was designed in such a way that it was divided into five parts. Part A was about personal or demographic profile of the respondents. Part B was regarding the level of overall customer satisfaction with the quality of technology used for banking services offered by Bank Dhofar. Part C was about the perceived level of customer satisfaction on technological applications of Bank Dhofar. Part D was about the factors that were significant for customer satisfaction in terms of technology used and Part E was for drawing the data on brand loyalty.

Data analysis

The data were analysed based on the descriptive profile of the bank customers, customer satisfaction with the technology used with Bank Dhofar, Customer Satisfaction with the ATM-CDM Services of Bank Dhofar, Customer satisfaction with internet banking of Bank Dhofar.

Descriptive profile

The descriptive profile of the data shows that 33 percent of the total respondents were from the age group of 18-25 years. 40 percent were from the age group of 26-35 year sand 25 percent was from 36-45 years of the age group. Just 2 percent were from the age group of 46-55 years. The gender ratio of the respondents was 62:38 where the former portion of the ratio represented males and the latter did females. Education profile is concerned, 38 present have bachelor’s degrees, 31 percent have diploma, 26 percent have just schooling and 5 present have master degrees.

Customer satisfaction with the technologies of Bank Dhofar	%
	HD	D	N	S	HS	Total
Overall technology used with Bank Dhofar	0	2	8	31	59	100
ATM-CDM Services of Bank Dhofar	32	11	33	14	10	100
Internet banking of Bank Dhofar	15	55	2	16	12	100
Mobile banking of Bank Dhofar	12	5	11	61	11	100
Telephone banking of Bank Dhofar	7	13	2	57	21	100

HD Highly dissatisfied, D Dissatisfied, N Neutral, S Satisfied, HS Highly satisfied

Customer satisfaction with the technology used with Bank Dhofar                                 

90 percent of the bank customers (strongly agree 59 percent and agree 31 percent) agree that they are satisfied with the technology used with Bank Dhofar. While eight percent stand neutral, two percent disagree that they are satisfied with the technology used with Bank Dhofar. This shows that the customers are generally satisfied with the quality of the technology used for the banking services offered by Bank Dhofar.

Customer Satisfaction with the ATM-CDM Services of Bank Dhofar

Just 24 percent of the respondents (highly satisfied 10 percent and satisfied 14 percent) are satisfied with the ATM-CDM services provided by Bank Dhofar. 43 percent of the total respondents are dissatisfied with the ATM-CDM services provided by Bank Dhofar. 33 percent of the total respondents remain neutral to the statement that the customers are satisfied with the ATM-CDM services provided by Bank Dhofar.

Customer satisfaction with internet banking of Bank Dhofar

Customer satisfaction with the internet banking facilities of Bank Dhofar is concerned, majority (70 percent) of the bank customers (satisfied 55 percent and highly satisfied 15 percent) are satisfied with the internet banking facilities provided by the bank. 28 percent of the respondents are dissatisfied (dissatisfied 16 percent and highly dissatisfied 12 percent) with the internet banking facilities provided by the bank. Just two percent of the respondents stand neutral to customer satisfaction on the internet banking facilities provided by Bank Dhofar.

Customer satisfaction with mobile banking of Bank Dhofar

72 percent of the bank customers (highly satisfied 61 percent and satisfied 11 percent) agree that they are satisfied with the mobile banking facility provided by Bank Dhofar. While eleven percent respond neutrally, seventeen percent disagree with being satisfied with the mobile banking facility provided by Bank Dhofar. This shows that the customers are generally satisfied with the quality of the mobile banking facility provided by Bank Dhofar.

Customer satisfaction with telephone banking of Bank Dhofar

Customer satisfaction with the telephone banking facility of Bank Dhofar is concerned, the majority (78 percent) of the bank customers (satisfied 57 percent and highly satisfied 21 percent) are satisfied with the telephone banking facility of Bank Dhofar. 20 percent of the respondents are dissatisfied (dissatisfied 13 percent and highly dissatisfied 7 percent) with the telephone banking facility provided by Bank Dhofar. Just two percent of the respondents were neutral regarding customer satisfaction on the telephone banking facilities of Bank Dhofar.

Factors considered to be significant for customer satisfaction in terms of technology used

Factors considered to be significant for customer satisfaction in terms of technology used	%
	SD	D	N	A	SA	Total
Easy availability of Bank Dhofar ATMs & CDMs	15	11	32	29	13	100
User friendliness of ATMs & CDMs	0	14	9	30	47	100
Cash availability at ATMs	6	9	2	51	32	100
Well maintained ATMs & CDMs	7	6	2	51	34	100
High speed internet banking	6	6	5	22	61	100
User friendliness of internet banking	7	13	4	62	14	100
Prompt technical support for internet banking	8	13	21	41	17	100
Aesthetics of the bank website	4	17	14	53	12	100
Easy to use mobile banking	7	8	16	61	8	100
Bills payment using mobile banking	6	8	5	70	11	100
ATM Cash withdrawal using the bank mobile applications, without using debit/credit cards	4	8	3	52	33	100
Customer satisfaction with bank to bank transfer through mobile banking	9	5	40	32	14	100
Customer care through telephone banking	3	13	6	51	27	100
Low waiting time during telephone banking	4	6	3	51	36	100
Well informed customer care executives for telephone banking	6	18	8	46	22	100
Prompt response to telephone banking	1	19	5	60	15	100

SD Strongly disagree, D Disagree, N Neutral, A Agree, SA Strongly Agree

Easy availability of Bank Dhofar ATMs & CDMs

42 percent of the total respondents agree (strongly agree 13 percent and agree 29 percent) that they have easy availability of Bank Dhofar ATMs and CDMs. 43 percent disagree (strongly disagree 11 percent and disagree 32 percent) that they have easy availability of Bank Dhofar ATMs and CDMs. 15 percent stand neutral to the statement.

User friendliness of ATMs & CDMs

77 percent of the total respondents agree (strongly agree 13 percent and agree 29 percent) that the ATMs and CDMs of Bank Dhofar are user friendly. 14 percent disagree that the ATMs and CDMs of Bank Dhofar are user friendly. 9 percent stand neutral to the statement.

Cash availability at ATMs

83 percent of the total respondents agree (strongly agree 32 percent and agree 51 percent) that Bank Dhofar ATMs have cash availability. 15 percent disagree (strongly disagree 6 percent and disagree 9 percent) that Bank Dhofar ATMs have cash availability. Just 2 percent stand neutral to the statement.

Well maintained ATMs & CDMs

85 percent of the total respondents agree (strongly agree 34 percent and agree 51 percent) that Bank Dhofar has well maintained ATMs and CDMs. 13 percent disagree (strongly disagree 7 percent and disagree 6 percent) that Bank Dhofar has well maintained ATMs and CDMs. Just two percent stand neutral to the statement.

High speed internet banking

83 percent of the total respondents agree (strongly agree 61 percent and agree 22 percent) that Bank Dhofar provide its customers with high speed internet banking facilities. 12 percent disagree (strongly disagree 6 percent and disagree 6 percent) that Bank Dhofar has high speed internet banking facilities. Just five percent stand neutral to the statement.

User friendliness of internet banking

Majority (76 percent) of the bank customers surveyed (strongly agree 14 percent and agree 62 percent) agree that the internet facilities provided by the bank are user friendly. While 20 percent of the customers negate the statement, four percent stand neutral to it.

Prompt technical support for internet banking

58 percent of the bank customers surveyed (strongly agree 17 percent and agree 41 percent) agree that the bank provides prompt technical support for its internet banking facilities.  While 21 percent of the customers negate the statement, 21 percent stand neutral to it.

Aesthetics of the bank website

Majority (65 percent) of the bank customers surveyed (strongly agree 12 percent and agree 53 percent) agree that the aesthetics of the bank website is really appealing. While 21 percent of the customers negate the statement, 14 percent stand neutral to it.

Easy to use mobile banking

Majority (69 percent) of the bank customers surveyed (strongly agree 12 percent and agree 53 percent) agree that the mobile banking facilities of the bank are easy to use. While 15 percent of the customers negate the statement, 16 percent stand neutral to it.

Bills payment using mobile banking

81 percent of the bank customers surveyed (strongly agree 11 percent and agree 70 percent) agree that the bill payments are made easy using the mobile banking facilities of the bank. While 14 percent of the customers negate the statement, just five percent stand neutral to it.

ATM Cash withdrawal using the bank mobile applications, without using debit/credit cards

85 percent of the bank customers (highly satisfied 33 percent and satisfied 52 percent) agree that they are satisfied with the ATM cash withdrawal using the bank mobile applications without using the bank debit or credit cards. 12 percent disagree and three percent stay neutral to the statement.

Customer satisfaction with bank to bank transfer through mobile banking

46 percent of the bank customers (highly satisfied 14 percent and satisfied 32 percent) are satisfied with the bank to bank transfer using the mobile banking facilities of the bank. Just 14 percent disagree to it. 40 percent respond neutral.

Customer care through telephone banking

78 percent of the bank customers (highly satisfied 27 percent and satisfied 51 percent) are satisfied with the customer care services provided by the bank using telephone banking facilities. Just 16 percent disagree to it. Six percent respond neutral.

Low waiting time during telephone banking

87 percent of the bank customers (strongly agree 36 percent and agree 51 percent) agree that they have low waiting time during their telephone banking with the bank. Just 10 percent disagree to it. Just three percent respond neutral.

Well informed customer care executives for telephone banking

68 percent of the bank customers (highly satisfied 22 percent and satisfied 46 percent) are satisfied with the information given by the customer care executives of the bank while the service is sought over telephone. Just 24 percent disagree to it. Eight percent respond neutral.

Prompt response to telephone banking

75 percent of the bank customers (strongly agree 15 percent and agree 60 percent) agree that they receive prompt response when they seek banking services using telephone banking facilities. Just 24 percent disagree to it. Eight percent respond neutral.

Perceived brand loyalty of Dhofar Bank customers 

Perceived brand loyalty of Dhofar Bank customers	%
	SD	D	N	A	SA	Total
Interest to be a customer of Bank Dhofar for long time	4	11	10	53	22	100
Positive Communication about Bank Dhofar to friends and relatives	7	16	25	38	14	100
Customer preference to Bank Dhofar	4	11	10	53	22	100

SD Strongly disagree, D Disagree, N Neutral, A Agree, SA Strongly Agree

Interest to be a customer of Bank Dhofar for long time

75 percent of the bank customers (strongly agree 22 percent and agree 53 percent) agree that they are interested to a customer of Bank Dhofar for long time. 15 percent disagree to it. 10 percent respond neutral.

Positive Communication about Bank Dhofar to friends and relatives

52 percent of the bank customers (strongly agree 22 percent and agree 53 percent) like to talk positive about Bank Dhofar to their friends and relatives. 23 percent disagree to it. 25 percent respond neutral.

Customer preference to Bank Dhofar

75 percent of the bank customers (strongly agree 22 percent and agree 53 percent) prefer Bank Dhofar to any other bank to transact with. 15 percent disagree to it. 10 percent respond neutral.

FINDINGS

The findings of the study connect itself to the theoretical concept of customer satisfaction and its independent variables in the context of technology and customer satisfaction of commercial banks in Oman with special reference to Bank Dhofar. The major findings are given below:

1. The study-results reveal that the customers are satisfied with the overall technology used, mobile banking and telebanking technologies.
2. The result further shows that there is an element of dissatisfaction among the customers with regard to the ATM-CDM services and internet banking services of the bank.
3. The customers agree in all the factors that are considered to be significant for their satisfaction in terms of technology used.
4. Despite an element of dissatisfaction in certain technological areas, customers have a high degree of brand loyalty towards Bank Dhofar.

CONCLUSION

Based on the findings it might be concluded there is a positive relationship between technology used for banking services and customer satisfaction. Technology enhances reliability, responsiveness and ensures security of customer transactions. The study on customer satisfaction with technology-based banking services of Bank Dhofar brings out the fact that the primary beneficiary of the technology-based banking services of Bank Dhofar are its own customers. Technology has not only facilitated efficient and reliable banking operations but launching of new banking products as well. A customer has the option of mobile banking, ATMs or tele banking for 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Technology has even helped banks to cut down its operational cost.

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APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

A study on customer satisfaction with technology used with special reference to Bank Dhofar

Name (Optional)
Age (Years)	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55	Above 55
Gender	Male	Female
Education	High School		Diploma		Bachelors	Masters

1. Perceived level of overall customer satisfaction with the quality of the technology used for banking services offered by Bank Dhofar.

No	Customer referrals	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Never disagree nor agree	Agree	Strongly agree
		1	2	3	4	5
1.1	I am overall satisfied with the quality of the technology used for banking services offered by Bank Dhofar.

2. Perceived level of customer satisfaction on technological applications of Bank Dhofar.

No	Technology used	Highly dissatisfied	Dissatisfied	Neither dissatisfied nor satisfied	Satisfied	Highly satisfied
		1	2	3	4	5
2.1	ATM & CDM services
2.2	Internet banking
2.3	Mobile banking
2.4	Telephone banking
2.5	Others (Please specify)…………………..

3. Factors that are considered to be significant for customer satisfaction in terms of technology used.

No	Factors for customer satisfaction	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Never disagree nor agree	Agree	Strongly agree
		1	2	3	4	5
3.1	Easy availability of ATMs & CDMs
3.2	User friendliness of ATMs & CDMs
3.3	Cash availability at ATMs & CDMs
3.4	Well maintained ATMs & CDMs
3.5	High speed internet banking
3.6	User friendliness of internet banking
3.7	Prompt technical support for internet banking problems
3.8	Aesthetics of the Bank website
3.9	Easy-to-use mobile banking
3.10	Bills payment using mobile banking
3.11	ATM cash withdrawal using mobile applications, without using debit/credit cards
3.12	Bank-to-bank transfer using mobile banking
3.13	Quality customer care through telephone banking
3.14	Low waiting time during telephone banking
3.15	Well informed customer care executive in telephone banking
3.16	Prompt response as a result of telephone banking

4. Perceived brand loyalty of Bank Dhofar customers

No	Factors	Strongly disagreed	Disagreed	Neither disagreed nor agreed	Agreed	Strongly agreed
		1	2	3	4	5
4.1	I would like to be a customer of Bank Dhofar for long time.
4.2	I would like say positive things about Bank Dhofar whenever I talk to my friends or relatives.
4.3	Bank Dhofar will always be my first choice for all my banking needs.