Understanding Customer Satisfaction in Electronic Commerce Within Kurdistan Region of Iraq's Banking Sector: The Nexus Between Service Quality and User Experience

The study examines the interplay between service quality and user experience in driving customer satisfaction in the Kurdistan region of Iraq's banking sector, focusing on user experience's mediating role. A partial least square structural equation modelling approach was applied to 305 customers' data across three leading banks in the Kurdistan region of Kurdistan region of Iraq. The findings revealed that service quality and user experience independently drive customer satisfaction with no significant mediation effects. The uncovered insights challenge traditional models and highlight the significance of direct service improvements in fragile economies. The applied PLS-SEM offers granular insights into direct and mediation effects, overcoming the limitations of correlation-based approaches in prior examinations. The study fills a critical gap in Middle Eastern banking literature, which has historically dwelt on Gulf Cooperation Council economies with advanced digital ecosystems. Focusing on the Kurdistan region of Iraq offers a blueprint for analysing service quality in post-conflict economies such as Syria and Afghanistan.