Identifying cross-channel dissynergies for multi-channel service providers

In many service industries customers can choose from different channel formats provided by the same firm. In order to maximize profits, a provider may drive its customer relations from branch offices (e.g. offline banking) to Web sites (online banking). As online activities should be considered within the context of the conventional channels, service firms need to know how offline channel evaluations affect online channel use. By extending the Technology Acceptance Model, we explore if and how customer’s offline channel assessments constitute cross-channel synergies for online usage. Based on data of 668 customers of a financial service provider, we find multiple effects of the satisfaction with the offline channel on the intention to use the online channel. First, the complementary channel effect increases trust which in turn positively influences the intention to use the online channel. Second, the competitive channel effect negatively impacts the intention to use the innovative channel. Moreover, this effect decreases the perceived usefulness of the new channel and enhances the perceived risk of switching to the online channel. In sum, we identify a strongly negative total effect of offline satisfaction on online channel usage intention. This indicates that even "dissynergies" exist. Thus, successfully influencing online channel use does not only depend on enhancing perceived usefulness of the online option or on building trust into the service provider. Instead, providers have to highlight or even enhance the relative disadvantages of the traditional service channel in order to shift customers to the new alternative. As a result, multi-channel service providers face the trade-off between triggering online channel use and maintaining offline channel satisfaction.