The relationship between perceived e-service quality and brand equity: A simultaneous equations system approach

•We build a hierarchical and multidimensional model of e-banking service quality.•Simultaneous equations system is developed and is estimated by OLS, 2SLS, and 3SLS.•Quality of E-banking service has positive effects on trust and satisfaction.•Trust and satisfaction significantly affect loyalty, which influence brand equity.•Simultaneous relationships are confirmed among satisfaction, trust, and loyalty.

Using the data collected from the online banking users in Taiwan, we build a hierarchical model of e-banking service quality and investigate the relationships among e-service quality, trust, satisfaction, loyalty, and brand equity. Moreover, the simultaneous equations system approach is also applied to transfer the traditional satisfaction-loyalty path into the simultaneous relationships between trust and loyalty, and between satisfaction and loyalty. As the structural form coefficients demonstrate the direct relations between our research constructs, the reduced form estimates further disclose the total impacts of the quality of e-banking service on trust, satisfaction, loyalty, and brand equity, respectively. The results indicate that the perceived quality formed through interaction with an online banking service positively affects customer trust and satisfaction, which in turn influence loyalty and brand equity. The significant simultaneous relationships between trust and loyalty, and between satisfaction and loyalty, are confirmed by our data, implying that these relationships must be determined simultaneously, rather than sequentially.