Evaluating Digital Process Technologies and Competitive Advantage: A Field Study of Listed Commercial Banks in Zimbabwe (IIARD INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT)

Summary

• The quantitative field study surveyed 400 stratified random-sampled bank employees in Zimbabwe using a Likert-scale questionnaire to measure the impact of digital process technologies.p.1
• Internet banking achieved the highest adoption mean score of 4.24, followed closely by mobile banking at 4.18.p.8
• Core banking system automation recorded an adoption mean of 4.05, while robotic process automation showed lower adoption with a mean of 3.60.p.8
• Digital process technologies explained 52 percent of the variance in operational efficiency with an R² value of 0.520.p.9
• The adoption of digital technologies accounted for 54 percent of the variance in competitive advantage with an R² value of 0.539.p.10
• Among customer satisfaction factors, enhanced convenience scored the highest mean rating of 4.33, followed by speed of service delivery at 4.21.p.10

Key insights

1. Internet banking and mobile banking serve as the primary statistical drivers of both operational efficiency and competitive advantage for commercial banks in Zimbabwe.p.9
2. Robotic process automation remains in its early adoption phase compared to customer-facing digital channels, presenting an unexploited area for operational efficiency gains.p.8
3. All four evaluated digital process technologies show statistically significant positive correlations with bank operational efficiency.p.9
4. Strategic implementation of digital process technologies significantly enhances customer experience by minimizing transactional errors and accelerating service speed.p.10
5. Cybersecurity risks, infrastructure constraints, regulatory uncertainty, and technical skill shortages act as key moderating challenges to realizing digital competitive advantages.p.1