After the wide and in-depth study of the existing literature on Fintech, this study departs from a research model that incorporates Net Valance's perspective and ECT. Considering that Fintech is an integration of financial technology, e-commerce products and financial services, given the nature of financial services, have the effect of positive and negative factors related to Fintech features which are crucial to determining customer behaviour namely, satisfaction, loyalty and continuous intention to use Fintech through the bank. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, the new proposed model has not been tested before and it is the first time that such an approach
has been used to test customer satisfaction, loyalty, repurchase intention and financial performance which are being tested in the Fintech context.
The new proposed model hypothesizes that different Fintech user differences (i.e. familiarity) have various expected benefits and risks. The factors that have been selected to be studied in this study to examine the impact of users positive (economic benefit, convenience, perceived service quality and Seamless transaction) and negative valence (operational risk, security risk, privacy risk and legal risk) perceptions towards their confirmation of experience on Fintech. In addition, the investigation of the impact of individual differences variable (familiarity) on their satisfaction and thereafter repurchase intention and loyalty to the banks.
The majority of the selected factors (economic benefit, convenience, perceived service quality, operational risk, security risk, privacy risk, legal risk) were selected because they have been widely used in the Fintech literature. However, they have never been used to see the cumulative effect on customer satisfaction and reuse behavioural intention based on the actual utilization of Fintech and how customer satisfaction, loyalty and reuse behavioural intention can predict the financial performance of banks. Also, another reason for using these factors is that the United Arab Emirates banking sector is developed with the presence of local and international banks; hence, the customers are having prior knowledge of using digital banking systems as well as the government and financial institutions in the United Arab Emirates are incubators of innovation, especially in the service industry through establishing online banking (Mouakket 2009). Also, this study considers addition of service quality as a part of positive valance of using Fintech, since the study deem to reflect on the customer experience of using bank service, its encouraged in service delivery studies to consider service quality measures (Samen, Akroush & Abu-Lail 2013).
Banks that offer Fintech services are still considered limited in the Arab region when compared to Europe or the US (Mouakket 2009); however, a few pioneers have emerged among UAE banks to offer online banks, the service first was introduced by Emirates Bank International in 1996 (Emirates Bank Association, 2019). The UAE is a developing country with the most competitive banking sector in the Arab world, with an estimated 48 banks (21 local and 27 foreign banks) UAE (Central Bank 2020). Based on a recent report by Emirates Bank Association (2019), 93% of all banking transactions have been done on digital channels in most UAE banks. Hence, the adoption rate of individual customers has grown and is projected to continue growing. Given the emphasis on the banking sector in the UAE, it would be helpful to develop greater strategic insight into their use of Fintech services to better service both retail consumers and businesses and in turn to gain a market share, better margins and brand equity. However, there are many constraints related to privacy and infrastructure issues- that need to be considered which is about the evaluation of the development of Fintech in the Arab world.
This study focuses on the UAE which is considered to be one of the leading Arab countries in the advancement of information and technology in the banking sector (Mouakket 2009, Awamleh &
Fernandes 2005). Technology in the service industry has proven to be affordable innovation to help companies to reach their customers more easily (Ahmad et al. 2018). However online privacy and risk concerns are highly sensitive issues in this region (Mouakket 2009). Hence, protection actions from central banks and government regulations are quite common in UAE (Emirates Bank Association 2019). Accordingly, the constructs employed in this study would capture the positive and negative factors of using Fintech as well as its relation to customer satisfaction, loyalty, repurchase intention and financial performance of banks. Therefore, when studying the service industry in the United Arab Emirates, it is crucial to consider both the benefit and risk factors of
using the service, plus it enables banks to allocate the budgets for expanding and marketing the service.
There are many academic advantages for the present framework; these include studying the customer experience of using Fintech and its impact on the bank's financial performance. Also, extending the Expectation Confirmation Theory by arguing that the grouping of positive and negative factors drawn from the Net Valance Perspective is essential to predict customer behavioural intentions and loyalty. Moreover, by adding familiarity dimension to the framework, through covering customer individual differences seeking to deeply understand its influence on consumer satisfaction of using Fintech. Furthermore, by adding the loyalty and continuous intention constructs, the study enhances the understanding of customers’ post-consumption behaviour that can predict the financial performance of banks. Indeed, this study enhances the knowledge concerning the impact of confirmation and customer satisfaction due to positive and negative factors on behavioural outcomes; specifically, the proposed model is complete and detailed of customer satisfaction, loyalty and continuous intention and their effects on the financial performance in the banking sector.
The present framework also has many practical advantages and throws light on the significant component of positive factors specifically service quality, economic (price), convenience and the risks that may occur while using the service; collectively, these factors influence customer satisfaction intentions and loyalty. Considering that Fintech is a growing field in the financial industry with multiple supplies, service providers require to maintain a strong relationship with their customers to determine market share. In addition, the proposed framework helps to review the bank’s policies, marketing strategies by evaluating the satisfaction level and behavioural
intentions of the customers. Furthermore, it provides the banking service provider with the driving reasons for customers to move into the satisfaction stage, through considering the fact of customer level of familiarity of using the service. Last but not least, the framework identifies the main elements that result in customer loyalty and continuous intention and joint effect on the financial performance in the banking sector.