From Branch to Digital: Modeling Customer Channel Preferences in Electronic Banking Services

The digital transformation of financial services has changed how customers interact with banks through electronic channels, yet the factors influencing channel choice between branch-based and digital banking are not entirely understood, especially in emerging European markets. This study investigates banking channel preferences over three consecutive years (2023–2025) in Constanta County, Romania, quantifying how perceived bank technologization and sociodemographic characteristics are associated with the likelihood of digital banking adoption in the e-commerce context. Using repeated cross-sectional survey data from 785 respondents, we applied pooled and year-specific logistic regression models to evaluate temporal effects and estimate the predictive contribution of a composite perception measure (TechScore). Results show that although digital banking usage increased from 87.7% to 92.4%, time alone did not significantly predict adoption. Technologization perceptions consistently increased the odds of digital banking use, with stronger effects in 2025. Age and living environment were significant determinants, while gender and relationship length were not. As digital financial services mature, perceived bank technologization becomes increasingly influential in channel-use decisions. The study contributes to the electronic commerce and technology acceptance literature by demonstrating the importance of perception-based predictors in digital banking contexts and highlights how perception-based evaluation shapes channel choice in digital service platforms, offering insights applicable to electronic commerce contexts where providers compete across physical and digital channels.