The impact of technology investment on financial service quality: Evidence from bank hirings

Utilizing a near-universe dataset on bank job postings, I examine whether banks’ human capital investment in technology impacts the quality of financial services. I find that higher investment in technology professionals is not associated with overall consumer satisfaction. However, further investigation reveals more complicated impacts from technology investment. While higher investment in technology specialists is significantly associated with an increase in service quality regarding loan application and loan service, but it is associated with a decrease in the service quality of loan collection, particularly when the bank has no branch presence in the local area. This evidence supports the proposition that investment in technology alone can increase financial service quality through building better information infrastructure and offering more convenient and standardized services. However, technology is inadequate when dealing with complex financial distress issues, particularly when not complemented by human service personnel. Overall, this study provides the first empirical evidence on the impact of technology investment on financial service quality through the lens of human capital investment.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Accountancy

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Sydney Seulgi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Li, Laura
• Chen, Clara
• Zhu, Wei
• Almeida, Heitor

• Financial Service Quality
• Human Capital
• Technology

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Sydney Kim

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124518

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124518