Functional characteristics of banking websites and customer loyalty: The mediating role of online trust

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the websites’ functional characteristics, online trust and customer loyalty in banking sector. Our research required the testing of twelve hypotheses with a sample of 286 Tunisian banks’ customers. The data were analyzed by structural equations modeling using the AMOS software. The results of our research highlighted the significant and positive effect of the websites’ functional characteristics on online trust among customers, which in turn has been proven to be a key driver of their loyalty to their banks. Our study pointed also the mediation role played by online trust between websites’ functional characteristics and customer loyalty.