The Role of Online Banking Service Clues in Enhancing Individual and Corporate Customers’ Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Customer Experience as a Corporate Social Responsibility

Online banking services have emerged as pivotal drivers of customer satisfaction and sustainable development. However, the mediating role of customer experience in linking online banking service clues to satisfaction remains underexplored. Grounded in Haeckel’s model, this study examines how functional (technical execution), mechanic (interface usability), and humanic (behavioral interactions) service clues shape satisfaction among 400 individual and corporate online banking users in Northern Cyprus, analyzed via Structural Equation Modelling. By framing age and occupation as proxies for risk aversion and post-crisis distrust—key barriers in Cyprus’s banking sector—this study advances regionally tailored strategies for sustainable digital adoption. The results reveal functional clues positively impacted satisfaction only for individual customers, while mechanic clues enhanced satisfaction across both groups, contributing to sustainable development. Humanic clues showed no significant effect. Although online service clues improved overall customer experience, a key corporate social responsibility, this experience did not mediate the clue–satisfaction relationship. Demographic factors (e.g., age, user type) moderated these dynamics. These findings underscore the importance of prioritizing mechanic and functional clues in digital banking interfaces to bolster satisfaction and align with sustainable development goals. This study advances Haeckel’s theory in digital contexts and offers actionable insights for banks seeking to balance technological innovation with customer centricity.