Title: Customer experience dimensions as a linking apparatus between service quality and word of mouth in multichannel banking context

Authors: Nidhi Verma; Mandeep Kaur

Addresses: BBA, USB, Chandigarh University, Mohali-140413, Punjab, India ' University School of Financial Studies, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 143005, India

Abstract: India is on the cusp of the digital revolution. The rising internet and smartphone penetration have altered the digital DNA of India. With the global push toward digitisation, the banking industry has advanced to multichannel banking. In light of this context, the article aims to establish the relationship among service quality, dimensions of customer experience, and word of mouth. Social exchange theory and the SOR model provide strong support for the relationship between the variables. The analysis has been based on 834 multichannel bank customers in Punjab. The PLS-SEM-SEM.0.8.7 software package has been employed to apply CFA and SEM for analysing the data. A certain complementary matrix, such as PLS-predict, has also been referred to check the results' robustness. The findings revealed a significant relationship among service quality, dimensions of customer experience, and WOM in both traditional and electronic banking contexts. Further, the author tried to gauge the role of CE dimensions as a linking apparatus between service quality and WOM.

Keywords: customer experience; Schmitt's dimensions; service quality; word of mouth; multichannel banking; PLS-SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2026.155071

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2026 Vol.18 No.1, pp.1 - 37

Received: 21 Jul 2023
Accepted: 27 Oct 2023
Published online: 27 Jul 2026 *

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