Monetary and real consequences of military expenditures in Iraq

Customer loyalty and trust are key elements for the success of retail banking. For this reason, it is crucial to investigate the predictors of these elements. This study aims to model service quality, customer satisfaction, and commitment influencing customer loyalty and trust in South African retail banking. The target population is a growing banking customer segment – Generation Y. A sample of 271 Generation Y customers participated in the survey. Their responses were analyzed using AMOS, whereby a structural equation model was developed. Although the structural model suggests that service quality (β = 0.097; p = 0.175) is an insignificant predictor of customer loyalty in retail banking, the influence remains positive. Moreover, the model infers that customer satisfaction (β = 0.793; p = 0.001) predicts customer loyalty in retail banking and that customer satisfaction (β = 0.715; p = 0.001) and commitment (β = 0.257; p = 0.001) influence trust in retail banking. All the model fit indices (NFI = 0.95; RFI = 0.92; IFI = 0.97; TLI = 0.96; CFI = 0.97; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.03) infer that the model is reliable, valid, and ultimately good fitting measurement tool of customer loyalty and trust in retail banking. The results provide insights into the most critical factors in building customer loyalty and trust among Generation Y customers in South African retail banking. Moreover, they can help to develop marketing and customer service strategies to improve these outcomes.

Palestinian companies nowadays realize the importance of performance management systems. This study examines the moderating effect of employee participation in the relationship between perceived effectiveness of performance management system and affective commitment of employees in Palestinian service companies. A questionnaire was designed using Google Docs and distributed randomly via e-mail among 174 employees working in Palestinian service companies. A structural equation modeling, using AMOS V26, was used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that perceived effectiveness of performance management system has a significant positive impact on affective commitment (β = 0.77; p-value = 0.000). While the justice dimension of perceived effectiveness of performance management system has a significant positive impact on affective commitment (β = 0.52; p-value = 0.007), the accuracy dimension was found insignificant (β = 0.26; p-value = 0.178).
Regarding the moderating effect, neither the interaction between the perceived effectiveness of performance management system and employee participation (β = –0.031; p-value = 0.465) nor the justice dimension was significant (β = 0.103; p-value = 0.203). Nevertheless, the interaction between the accuracy dimension and employee participation was negative (β = –0.14; p-value = 0.034). This study yielded support for the importance of perceived effectiveness of performance management system. Employees who perceived the performance of management system to be effective have higher affective commitment. Therefore, managers, especially HR managers, in service companies should pay more attention to the perceived effectiveness of performance management system, especially its justice dimension, to gain the benefits of committed employees.

Mobile technology developments have altered the traditional financial services and retail banking sectors. Mobile banking is a popular and robust service delivery model, allowing consumers access to banking from anywhere and anytime. Irrespective of the benefits, usage intentions determine mobile banking success. As such, this paper attempts to test a structural model of the factors influencing mobile banking behavioral usage intention among a growing and essential segment of banking consumers, namely Generation Y. To this end, data were collected from a convenience sample of 334 South African Generation Y mobile banking consumers using a survey questionnaire. Using analysis of moment structures, the path analysis results indicated that perceived self-efficacy, behavioral control, structural assurance and trust have a statistically significant favorable influence on the target population’s mobile banking attitude, which, in turn, has a statistically significant positive effect on their mobile banking behavioral usage intention. In addition, all the model fit indices of this original and unique structural model were indicative of acceptable fit (IFI, TLI, CFI and NFI > 0.90). South African retail banks can use the study’s findings to add value to their mobile banking offering, especially when targeting the Generation Y banking cohort, which is believed to drive digital channels such as mobile banking.