The continuous development and expansion of online-banking have significantly changed the way of conducting banking errands. The traditional bank is gradually perishing as online-banking takes over, leading customers and banks to acquire new ways of communicating. Self-service technology and customer needs have changed the relationship between banks and their customers from physical to digital. Online-banking relationships were established to create interest for long-term relations to avoid the cost of acquiring new customers. How service quality factors within online-banking affect customer satisfaction have become relevant to study as it contributes to a bank’s performance. Where the performance increases the chances of competitive advantages such as a bigger market share and long-term success in the banking industry. The purpose of this thesis is to explain how service quality within online-banking affects customer satisfaction, using service quality factors from the e-SERVQUAL, SSTs and TAM. A quantitative method based on relevant theories were used through a positivistic and a deductive research approach in order to test the study hypotheses. The result of this study is based on 110 respondents. The result presents a positive relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, as Technology and Fulfilment contributed the most and Reliability the least to customer satisfaction.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / John A. Harrington Jr / The climate of the Middle East is warming and extreme hot temperature events are becoming more common, as observed by the significant upward trends in mean and extreme temperatures during the last few decades. Climate modeling studies suggest that the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme temperature events are expected to increase as the global and local climate continues to warm. Existing literature about heat waves (HWs) in Saudi Arabia provides information about HW duration using a single index, without considering the observed effects of climate change and the subtropical arid climate. With that in mind, this dissertation provides a series of three stand-alone papers evaluating temporal, geographic, and atmospheric aspects of the character of warm season (May-September) HWs in Saudi Arabia for 1985 to 2014. Chapter 2 examines the temporal behavior(s) of the frequency, duration, and intensity of HWs under the observed recent climate change. Several issues are addressed including the identification of some improved methodological practices for HW indices. A time-sensitive approach to define and detect HWs is proposed and assessed. HW events and their duration are considered as count data; thus, different Poisson models were used for trend detection. Chapter 3 addresses the spatio-temporal patterns of the frequency and intensity of hot days and nights, and HWs. The chapter reemphasizes the importance of considering the on-goings effects of climate warming and applies a novel time-series clustering approach to recognize hot temperature event behavior through time and space. Chapter 4 explores the atmospheric circulation conditions that are associated with warm season HW event occurrence and how different HWs aspects are related to different circulation types. Further, possible teleconnections between HWs and sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies of nearby large bodies are examined. Results from Chapters 2 and 3 detected systematic upward trends in maximum and minimum temperatures at most of the 25 stations, suggesting an on-going change in the climatology of the upper-tail of the frequency distribution. The analysis demonstrated the value of using a time-sensitive approach in studying extreme thermal events. Different patterns were observed over time and space not only across stations but also among extreme temperature events (i.e., hot days and nights, and HWs). The overall results suggest that not only local and regional factors, such as elevation, latitude, land cover, atmospheric humidity, and distance from a large body of water, but also large-scale factors such as atmospheric circulation patterns are responsible for the observed temporal and spatial patterns. Chapter 4 confirmed that as the Indian Summer Monsoon Trough and the Arabian heat low were key atmospheric features related to HW days. SST anomalies seemed to be a more important factor for HWs intensity. Extreme thermal events in Saudi Arabia tended to occur during regional warming due to atmospheric circulation conditions and SSTs teleconnections. This study documents the value of a time-sensitive approach and should initiate further research as some of temporal and spatial variabilities were not fully explained

When developing new services on SSTs it is very important to keep in mind what the user experience is when using it and that this experience will vary across different types of users. This study intends to investigate the flow experience of users when presented with different types of menu options (chunked / grouped vs. a listed menu) across different types of users. The research is quantitative and causal in nature, and used an experimental factorial design in the conduct of the research. The TRI and flow scales were used in the questionnaire design and a total of 139 respondents were involved in the experiment. The study found that the impact of flow is greater with lower TRI respondents than with higher TRI respondents on SSTs / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / ccgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

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Developments in information technology and tangible computing facilitate the human’s life by inventing Self Service Technologies SSTs where it changed the way we interact with the environment as well as new technologies did. Nowadays, a lot of new technologies have embodied computer inside such as smartphone and computer tablets. Previous studies in adoption of SSTs research treat customer behavior towards technology based services. However, recent studies recognize that participants have different attitude towards different technologies even if these technologies used to support the same service. Therefore, in our thesis we are going to study the effect of smartphone i.e. iPhone and computer tablets i.e. iPad on adoption of three services of SSTs Internet Banking, Online Shopping and Self Check In Machine at Airports. Is there any hesitation while people adopting with this technology? If yes, why does it happen? Our data were collected by conducting a pilot and empirical study via using quantitative and qualitative approaches. We conducted our study at Umeå, Sweden. The study findings present the effect of adoption through age, family, friends, money, knowledge, using technology in public and private places, mobile technology and computer tablets, and Interface design on adoption SSTs. We found that participants were influenced by new technology for adopting SSTs. Participants did not use Online Shopping as much as they use Internet Banking, especially in the private places. Concerning the Self Check in Machines, participants were differential in which some tend to use it and others did not.

Fashion retail stores are one of the settings where technology innovation is implemented to make the in-store experience more efficient than before. One of the innovations that are becoming increasingly common is self-service checkouts. Generation Z is the upcoming and new buying force for the retailers to target and this is what has been the foundation for the orientation of this thesis. The purpose of the research has been to examine factors that influence Generation Z usage of self-service checkouts in fashion retail stores in Sweden. In order to investigate this, the authors developed six hypotheses from previous research about convenience, time efficiency, attitude towards technology, subjective norms, interaction avoidance and fear of failure. The primary data presented in the chapter for empirical findings were gained through a questionnaire where 384 respondents participated. The data was analyzed in the statistical software program SPSS in order to test the hypotheses. The findings were presented in the analysis chapter where it also was discussed with the literature to be able to identify if there were any similarities or differences. The conclusion of this thesis shows that there are different factors that are influencing Generation Z to use self-service checkouts in fashion retail stores. Convenience emerges as the strongest influencing factor, while fear of failure holds the least influence on Generation Z's intention to utilize self-service checkouts. These findings aim to assist fashion retail companies in understanding the critical considerations when implementing self-service checkouts in-store.

Self-service technologies are rapidly increasing in the retailing industries as retailers aim to streamline transactions and enhance efficiency for both consumers and themselves. Despite various studies on SSTs, exploring their usability, impact, and influence on consumers' value co-creation was still lacking. Through this study, the influence of SSTs on consumers' value co-creation has been investigated by a qualitative approach, consisting of interviews and observational studies. The gathered data has helped this study to gain insights into the subjective dimensions of consumers' experiences, behaviors, and interactions with SSTs in a supermarket in East London.  Thematic analysis of the data reveals four key dimensions of value co-creation through SSTs: Value-Driven Efficiency, Autonomous Value Co-Creation, Value-Enriched Shopping Experience, and Value-Driven Refinement. Applying Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, the study finds that SSTs significantly enhance shopping experiences by providing convenience, efficiency, and autonomy, especially for small purchases. Consumers engage actively with SSTs, making informed decisions and navigating independently, with assistance available as needed. Common challenges include scanning items without barcodes, purchasing age-restricted items, and SSTs malfunctioning. Despite these issues, the overall impact of SSTs remains positive.