Two-way communication on bank websites in Ghana

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess how banks adopt a two-way communication approach in communicating with their customers. It further examined the difference that exists between the websites of locally and foreign owned banks operating in Ghana with respect to their dialogic potentials. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data was obtained from the contents of the websites as well as from customers of the banks considered. A two-sample t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The results show that all the banks incorporate ease of interface, usefulness of information and conservation of visitors’ features in their websites. Again, the results show that significant differences exist between locally-owned banks and foreign-owned banks with regards to user perceptions of the conservation of visitors’ principles on bank websites. The findings are that user perceptions must be taken into consideration in the development of websites. Firms should avoid the temptation of blindly imitating other websites without considering the input of specific users and other stakeholders. The novelty of the research stems from the data triangulation approach used.