BOP COMMUNITY'S INTENTION TO USE AGENT BANKING SERVICES: PERSPECTIVE FROM RMG EMPLOYEES OF AN INDUSTRIAL SUB-DISTRICT OF BANGLADESH

Service-based organizations such as banks have expanded their reach and operations to include various products, services, and more importantly, different market segments. Though brand, marketing efforts, and management concepts (such as mission and vision) have added to this expansion, so do the efforts of agent banking. Agent banking services act as a liaison between bank(s) and consumer(s), thereby allowing banks to reach consumers. Though literature indicates numerous advantages and challenges of agent banking services, the potential benefits are significant. This paper addresses the factors relating to using agent banking over traditional channels for consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) segment of Bangladesh. Data was collected from an industrial sub-district of Bangladesh. The findings indicate variables from the Social Exchange Theory (SET) were appropriate to understand the intention to use agent banking services. Furthermore, the study revealed that reciprocity plays a role in the use of agent banking services. Therefore, banks (and other service providers) can use the results to both understand and design marketing strategies to increase trust and usage of agent banking services even further (i.e., in Bangladesh or other parts of the world). The paper also serves as an extension to prior literature on intention to use services