Emerging Lifestyle Trends of People and Movement towards Self-Service Technologies: Special Reference to Commercial Banking Sector in Sri Lanka

The traditional physical service encounters operated by employees of service organizations have been converted into Self-Service Technologies (SSTs) operated by the customers with the continuous evolution in the service sector supported by the swift advancement of technology. Prior studies have attempted to understand customers' technology acceptance in general. However, much focus has not been given in studying self-service technologies. The growing competition existing in the market with the continuous improvements in technology had led to the importance of better understanding the customer. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the emerging lifestyle trends of people that lead them towards the use of self-service technologies in the Sri Lankan commercial banking industry. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach where 50 semi-structured interviews were conducted with banking customers who use self-service technologies in the Western Province, Sri Lanka. The sample was selected using non-probabilistic purposeful sampling strategy. Thematic analysis was integrated in analyzing the collected data. The findings revealed “Busy life schedules”, “Efficiency seeking”, “Convenience seeking”, “Shrinking On site banking”, “Lessened preference for cash-in-hand”, “Socializing with novelties”, “Green thinking”, and “Independence seeking” as the eight themes of emerging lifestyle trends which led the customers towards the use of SSTs present in the banking sector. The current study would therefore fill the lacuna of literature in the context of customer movement towards self-service technologies. Practitioners will be given direction with the understanding on how lifestyle of consumers could be integrated to improve how self-service technologies in the commercial banking industry are delivered to the customers.