Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
Information and telecommunication technologies, together with the Internet, are completely changing the ways companies provide their products and services to customers (Pham & Doan, 2014). The financial services industry, including securities brokerage, is not an exception (Roca et al., 2009). Previously, in the traditional securities trading environment, customers had to go to securities brokerage firms’ physical offices to conduct securities transactions, such as stocks, bonds, or other financial assets (Lin & Wei, 1999). Today, with the support of information and telecommunication technologies, along with the Internet, customers can conduct securities transactions anytime, anywhere (not limited by space and time) via a desktop computer or mobile device connected to the Internet (Feng et al., 2014).
A notable feature of online securities trading is that securities transactions are conducted through interactions between customers and a securities brokerage company’s website (Yang & Fang, 2004). Consequently, online securities trading brings many benefits to both securities brokerage firms and clients (Roca et al., 2009). For securities brokerages, significant savings gained from not investing in physical trading offices are a major benefit. Expanding customer base is another. Opportunities to provide other value-added services (for example, investment portfolio management consulting) to increase profitability is still another benefit (Liu, 2015).
For clients, the most tangible benefit is that customers do not have to go to a brokerage firm’s physical offices but can complete their securities trading via computers or other mobile devices connected to the Internet (Huang, 2005). A second benefit is that customers can save significant money and time. A third benefit besides buying and selling securities is that customers are provided with many online value-added services to enable them to make informed decisions, such as checking balances on securities accounts and cash balances on payment accounts, reading reports on securities market status, and updating periodic reports on gains/losses from securities trading or portfolio management services (Feng et al., 2014).
Despite these established benefits, in order to survive and develop sustainability in the face of competive forces securities firms are having to continue to improve the quality of products and services provided to customers (Feng et al., 2014). Customers value high quality, affordable products and services in online securities trading (Pham et al., 2020). The perceived value of a transaction or exchange stems from an overall evaluation of what is gained and sacrified when participating in that transaction or exchange (Bolton & Lemon, 1999). Perceived value will lead to customer satisfaction and, in turn, customer satisfaction will lead to customer loyalty (Pham et al., 2019). Customer loyalty plays an extremely important role in determining brokerage firms’ profitability and sustainable development.
Reflecting these relationships, a comprehensive review of previous studies shows that in both traditional and e-commerce environments, the separate relationships between perceived value and customer satisfaction, between perceived value and customer loyalty, and between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are positively related (Yang & Peterson, 2004). Parasuraman and Grewal (2000) argue that in the traditional commercial environment, service quality is positively correlated with perceived value, and perceived value is in turn positively correlated with loyalty. The positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty has been confirmed in the traditional commercial environment (Jun & Cai, 2001). In the e-commerce environment, separate positive relationships among perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty are also confirmed (Yang & Peterson, 2004).