Abstract
One of the most significant challenges conventional banking institutions face is the transition from a conventional banking system to a more technologically advanced operating system, which is considered as the adoption of service delivery automation (SDA). As competition rages, SDA has become the norm in the South African banking industry. Hence, conventional banking institutions are uncertain of the effects and adverse effects that could result from integrating automation into banking processes to serve more customers with probably fewer resources. Drawing on the literature, the study strived to investigate and model the extent to which the integration of service delivery automation through bank automation could be the exogenous variable or the direct predictor of the nine endogenous variables identified in the study framework. The proposed conceptual framework was developed based on the literature, with the adoption of bank automation as the independent variable to operations costs, creation of job opportunities, efficiency, flexibility, generation of job losses, changing nature of work, productivity, wages inequality, and skill-biased technical change as the potential dependent variables. Further, the study paid particular attention to whether service delivery automation generates more job opportunities than losses in the industry.
The five most prominent banking institutions in South Africa, A, B, C, D and E, were used as a case study. The study used a quantitative approach, collecting primary and secondary data from the five banks. Thus, 223 bank employees were quota sampling selected to contribute to the questionnaire survey. The data (primary) were analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique to test the proposed hypotheses. The secondary information was extracted from the banks' annual integrated reports and fact sheets to complement the primary data findings.
The findings of hypotheses testing (primary and secondary data) revealed that service delivery automation through banking automation is a significant and direct predictor of (positive effects) productivity, efficiency, flexibility, and operations costs, as well as generating new job opportunities. Similarly, the adoption of bank automation was found to be significantly related to (adverse effects) generation of job losses, changing nature
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of work, unbalanced demand for required skills, as well as inequality in wages of employees.
The research's contribution to the body of knowledge is significant because it focuses on the lack of empirical information about the variables through which service delivery automation expresses its influence on the banking industry. Besides, the study has created an awareness guide to demonstrate the lack of attention given to the adverse effects of SDA on the nature of the banking industry's business model.