Neviana
Dezie Leonarda Warganegara- Management Department, BINUS Business School Doctor of Research in Management, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia
This study extends the expectation–confirmation model for information systems (ECM-IS) toward a sustainability-oriented account of post-adoption behavior by explaining how engagement and financial empowerment sustain long-term digital relationships. Motivated by the gap between widespread mobile banking adoption and fragile post-adoption use in emerging markets, the study uses mobile banking in Indonesia as the empirical context. We specify engagement and financial empowerment as parallel mediating mechanisms linking experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust to sustainable relationship continuance. Survey data from 306 mobile banking users were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with validated measurement scales and bootstrapped mediation tests. The results show that engagement and financial empowerment jointly support sustainable relationship continuance. Perceived personalization is the strongest driver of engagement, while trust and experience quality primarily build financial empowerment, with personalization also contributing to capability formation. Conceptually, the study advances post-adoption theory by demonstrating that capability-based empowerment represents a pathway that is distinct from yet complementary to relational connection, thereby extending ECM-IS beyond single-path continuance explanations toward sustainable relationship continuance. Practically, the findings suggest that organizations can orchestrate responsible personalization, transparent consumer protection, and reliable service quality to strengthen trust, deepen connection, and enhance user capability. Overall, the proposed mediating framework links post-adoption behavior to sustainability by showing how connection and capability convert experience quality, personalization, and trust into durable commitment in a regulated emerging market.
1 Introduction
Mobile banking has evolved from a channel of transactional convenience into a core public-facing infrastructure that supports financial inclusion, resilience, and consumer wellbeing. As economies digitize, sustaining relationships between users and banks in mobile channels becomes a strategic lever for keeping individuals engaged with safe, reliable, and low-cost services and for broadening participation in the formal financial system (World Bank, 2022; OECD, 2022; United Nations, 2023). In Indonesia, payment modernization and the formal recognition of digital banks have accelerated adoption while simultaneously increasing the stakes for maintaining long-term engagement rather than episodic use (Bank Indonesia, 2021a,b, 2023; Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2021). Initiatives such as Bank Indonesia Fast Payment (BI-FAST) and the National Open Application Programming Interface Payment Standard (SNAP) aim to reduce frictions, lower transaction costs, and expand access while aligning market incentives with public goals for inclusive digital finance (Bank Indonesia, 2021a,b). Parallel regulatory frameworks reinforce institutional requirements for stability and consumer protection as banking services move online (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2021). Within this institutional setting, sustaining mobile banking relationships functions not only as a firm-level retention concern but also as an organizational mechanism linked to governance, consumer protection, and inclusive service delivery.
Research on post-adoption behavior has traditionally explained continuance intention using expectation confirmation and technology acceptance perspectives, emphasizing satisfaction, perceived usefulness or value, habit, and trust (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Venkatesh et al., 2012). Recent studies in digital payments also reaffirm the relevance of expectation–confirmation extensions for explaining post-adoption persistence. For example, Beura et al. (2023) demonstrate that perceived experience plays a central role in shaping continuance intention within a modified ECM framework in digital payment settings. More recent evidence further indicates that continuance intention can be sensitive to contemporary information environments, such as misinformation exposure in social media, which affects payment-app continuance intentions (Nanda et al., 2025). In financial and mobile contexts, trust and related acceptance factors remain central due to perceived risk, security concerns, and regulatory assurances (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Susanto and Chang, 2016; Tam and Oliveira, 2017). Extensions of the expectation confirmation model for information systems (ECM-IS) have advanced understanding of why users continue using digital services, yet they largely conceptualize post-adoption behavior through a single relational pathway, most often satisfaction or engagement. Engagement research further emphasizes experiential, affective, and behavioral manifestations of user–firm relationships that extend beyond usage to advocacy and co-creation (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Kumar and Reinartz, 2016), with experience quality and personalization identified as key drivers (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019). Despite this progress, existing continuance models provide an incomplete explanation of how durable digital relationships are sustained in regulated financial environments.
1.1 Research problem and context
Prior post-adoption and continuance research, particularly extensions of ECM-IS, remains dominated by single-path relational explanations, offering limited insight into capability-based mechanisms that may operate in parallel with relational attachment. Specifically, prior studies rarely examine whether continuance is shaped not only by affective and behavioral connection but also by users’ perceived capability and control when managing financial tasks through digital channels. This omission is consequential in financial services, where sustained participation depends on confidence, autonomy, and the ability to use digital tools responsibly over time. As a result, conventional continuance models insufficiently capture the mechanisms that support long-term, inclusive, and responsible digital relationships.
Indonesia provides a theoretically relevant context for addressing this gap. As a regulated emerging market with a rapidly modernizing digital payment infrastructure, Indonesia has institutionalized reliability, interoperability, and consumer safeguards through initiatives such as BI-FAST and SNAP. In this context, trust and service reliability increasingly function as baseline conditions rather than differentiating factors. This setting allows for an examination of whether sustainable relationship continuance is driven not only by relational attachment but also by users’ perceived capability and control in navigating digital financial services. Accordingly, this study reframes post-adoption behavior as sustainable relationship continuance (SRC), defined as an ongoing, trust-based, and capability-supported digital relationship that advances inclusion, responsible use, and consumer wellbeing over time.
Despite these advances, the rapid expansion of mobile banking in Indonesia has not uniformly translated into sustained and meaningful post-adoption use. While many users adopt mobile banking to perform basic transactions, a substantial share remains episodic, shallow, or inactive over time, indicating post-adoption fragility rather than durable digital relationships. This gap between widespread adoption and sustained, confident use represents a practical challenge for banks and policymakers, as inactive or low-engagement users limit the potential of digital finance to support inclusion, responsible usage, and consumer wellbeing. This phenomenon motivates the present study by raising the question of how mobile banking relationships can be sustained beyond initial adoption through mechanisms that foster both relational connection and user capability.
Many continuance models incorporate a single mediator, most commonly satisfaction or engagement, and give limited attention to financial empowerment as a complementary pathway. We conceptualize empowerment as a user’s perceived capability, control, and confidence in managing financial tasks and achieving desired outcomes through digital tools, consistent with capability and empowerment frameworks in digital finance (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024). In sustainable digital finance, empowerment supports informed choice, reduces behavioral frictions, and buffers shocks, enabling long-term participation rather than short-term application use (Hastings et al., 2013; ACI Worldwide, 2022). Yet empowerment is rarely examined alongside engagement in continuance research, leaving open whether cognitive capability and affective connection operate as parallel mechanisms sustaining digital relationships.
Continuance is also frequently treated as a narrow behavioral outcome without explicit linkage to sustainability, particularly regarding how stable digital relationships advance inclusion, responsible usage, and consumer wellbeing over time (World Bank, 2022; OECD, 2022; United Nations, 2023). Reframing continuance as SRC recognizes that banks are not merely retaining users but cultivating durable and mutually beneficial relationships that support inclusive participation in formal financial systems. This perspective is especially salient in emerging markets, where digital channels often mediate first-time access and where relationship continuity mitigates post-adoption drop-off (Bank Indonesia, 2021a,b, 2023). From a policy standpoint, SRC aligns with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.10 on access to financial services, SDG 9.c on affordable digital infrastructure, and SDGs 10.2 and 10.3 on inclusive participation and reduced inequalities (United Nations, 2023).
To address these gaps, this study examines a model featuring the mediating roles of engagement and financial empowerment in explaining sustainable relationship continuance (SRC) in mobile banking. We theorize that three upstream perceptions, namely experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust, influence SRC indirectly through two complementary mediating mechanisms. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to explain sustainable relationship continuance by examining how engagement and financial empowerment operate as parallel mediators in the Indonesian mobile banking context. Experience quality reflects a holistic appraisal of mobile interactions, including usefulness, reliability, responsiveness, and ease of use, which can strengthen engagement and, when interfaces are transparent, enhance perceived capability to self-manage finances (Vivek et al., 2012; Ahmed et al., 2022). Perceived personalization signals relevance and value alignment, deepening engagement while reinforcing confidence that digital channels support individual financial goals (Bleier et al., 2019; Wirtz et al., 2024). Trust, defined as confidence in provider competence, integrity, and benevolence, reduces perceived risk and facilitates deeper involvement and learning, plausibly strengthening both engagement and empowerment (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022). By reframing continuance intention as SRC, this study extends ECM-IS to foreground the long-term and inclusion-relevant nature of post-adoption outcomes while retaining validated measurement foundations (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Venkatesh et al., 2012; Susanto and Chang, 2016; Tam and Oliveira, 2017).
Accordingly, while prior studies explain why users continue using digital services, it remains unclear how relational attachment and user capability jointly sustain durable mobile banking relationships in regulated financial environments. To further clarify the research gap and guide the empirical investigation, this study addresses the following research questions:
RQ1: How do experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust influence sustainable relationship continuance in mobile banking?
RQ2: What roles do engagement and financial empowerment play in transmitting the effects of post-adoption perceptions to sustainable relationship continuance?
RQ3: Do engagement and financial empowerment operate as parallel mediating mechanisms in explaining sustainable relationship continuance in the Indonesian mobile banking context?
We evaluate the proposed model using data from Indonesian mobile banking users and estimate relationships using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Beyond explanatory power, we report measurement reliability and validity, collinearity diagnostics, bootstrapped path estimates with confidence intervals, and coefficients of determination. Mediation effects are tested using bias-corrected bootstrapped indirect effects in line with recent methodological guidance for PLS-SEM applications (Hair et al., 2022; Sarstedt et al., 2021; Nitzl and Chin, 2023).
This study develops a mediating perspective in which engagement and financial empowerment operate in parallel as complementary mechanisms explaining sustainable relationship continuance. By reframing continuance as SRC, the study links post-adoption behavior to inclusion, consumer protection, and consumer wellbeing in line with SDG 8.10, SDG 9.c, and SDGs 10.2 and 10.3 (United Nations, 2023). Drawing on data from Indonesia’s modernizing mobile banking system and an explanation-oriented PLS-SEM approach, the study provides insights into how experience quality, personalization, and trust are translated into durable digital relationships through strengthened engagement and user empowerment.
2 Theoretical background and hypothesis development
2.1 Theoretical integration: ECM-IS, engagement, and capability-based sustainability
This study is grounded in the expectation confirmation model for information systems (ECM-IS), which explains post-adoption behavior as a function of users’ evaluative comparison between prior expectations and actual system performance (Bhattacherjee, 2001). ECM-IS has been widely applied in digital service and mobile banking contexts to explain continuance intention through satisfaction and perceived usefulness (Susanto and Chang, 2016; Tam and Oliveira, 2017). As a baseline post-adoption theory, ECM-IS provides a robust foundation for understanding why users continue using digital services after initial adoption.
However, conventional extensions of ECM-IS largely conceptualize post-adoption behavior through a single relational or attitudinal pathway, offering limited insight into the mechanisms through which long-term and inclusive digital relationships are sustained. To address this limitation, the present study integrates ECM-IS with engagement theory and capability-based empowerment perspectives to explain sustainable relationship continuance (SRC) as a sustainability-oriented outcome rather than a narrow usage intention.
Engagement theory conceptualizes user–firm relationships as multidimensional, encompassing cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions that extend beyond transactional usage to active involvement, advocacy, and co-creation (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Kumar and Reinartz, 2016). Within digital banking, engagement captures the relational pathway through which experience quality, personalization, and trust foster emotional connection and behavioral involvement with the service provider.
Complementing this relational pathway, capability and empowerment perspectives emphasize users’ perceived control, competence, and confidence in managing tasks and achieving desired outcomes through digital systems (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023). In digital financial services, empowerment reflects a cognitive pathway through which transparent interfaces, reliable services, and trustworthy providers enhance users’ ability to manage finances independently and responsibly. This capability-based mechanism is particularly salient in regulated and mature digital finance environments, where trust and reliability increasingly function as baseline conditions.
By integrating ECM-IS with engagement and empowerment theories, this study conceptualizes sustainable relationship continuance as the outcome of two parallel and complementary mediating mechanisms: relational attachment (engagement) and perceived capability (financial empowerment). This dual-path theoretical integration provides a stronger explanatory foundation for understanding how experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust are translated into durable, inclusive, and sustainability-oriented digital relationships in the Indonesian mobile banking context.
2.2 Literature background
Open banking and payment rails that clear in real time provide the context for inclusive digital finance. In Indonesia, BI-FAST enables real time, low cost transfers, while the SNAP open API standard improves interoperability across banks and fintechs, enhancing access and reliability in mobile channels (Bank Indonesia, 2021a,b, 2023; United Nations, 2023). The recognition of digital banks and safeguards for consumer protection support the ecosystem, yet these policy settings are enablers rather than the mechanisms that sustain relationships (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2021). From a sustainability perspective, these developments align with SDG 8.10 on access to formal finance, SDG 9.c on affordable digital infrastructure and access, SDG 10.2 and SDG 10.3 on inclusive participation and reduced inequalities (United Nations, 2023).
The literature shows that system features matter because they shape three behavioral levers that sustain participation. First, design and service conditions along the customer journey, including usefulness, reliability, responsiveness, and ease, reduce frictions and clarify outcomes (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Ahmed et al., 2022). These conditions strengthen the relational connection captured by engagement and build the user capability measured by financial empowerment (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012). In mobile banking, users’ technology readiness further reinforces downstream satisfaction and loyalty (Parasuraman, 2000; Parasuraman and Colby, 2015). Second, personalization based on consented data sharing signals relevance and value alignment (Bleier et al., 2019; Wirtz et al., 2024). When governed responsibly, it lowers information costs and supports underserved users, thereby reinforcing engagement (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Bleier et al., 2019) and empowerment in line with inclusion and financial wellbeing (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024). Third, relational assurances such as competence, integrity, and benevolence build trust, lower perceived risk in financial tasks, and encourage exploration and learning (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022; Che et al., 2023). Taken together, the evidence indicates that improvements in design and service conditions, responsible personalization, and trust support sustainable relationship continuance via engagement and empowerment (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012). These antecedents are grounded in customer experience and personalization research (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Bleier et al., 2019) and aligned with inclusion-oriented guidance and SDG priorities (OECD, 2022; World Bank, 2022; United Nations, 2023).
2.3 Previous work
Building on expectation–confirmation and technology-acceptance perspectives (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Venkatesh et al., 2012), recent work emphasizes that continuance intention depends on perceived value and trust reinforced by service quality and personalization (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Susanto and Chang, 2016; Tam and Oliveira, 2017). In financial services, trust is central because security, privacy, and perceived risk shape confidence to remain with a provider (Tam and Oliveira, 2017; Ahmed et al., 2022; Luo et al., 2022). Research on experience quality shows that usefulness, reliability, responsiveness, and ease along the journey relate to stronger attitudes and intentions, while personalization increases perceived relevance when content and interactions fit individual needs (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019; Ahmed et al., 2022; Wirtz et al., 2024). These accounts clarify why users stay, but most end with attitudes or a single explanatory path.
The engagement stream adds a relational perspective in which users invest attention, emotion, and discretionary effort that extend beyond use (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012). Empirical work often places engagement between journey quality or personalization and outcomes such as loyalty or continuance. However, engagement is usually modeled on its own, and studies give limited attention to the user capability needed to manage financial tasks. This leaves underexplored the role of perceived control and confidence that is essential for durable participation in digital finance. Recent digital banking evidence shows that engagement, when accompanied by trust, is positively associated with continuance (Luo et al., 2022).
Parallel work on empowerment and capability shows that perceived competence, control, and self-efficacy support sustained use of digital tools and inclusive outcomes (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024). In financial contexts, empowerment relates to better decision making and resilience, which indicates a cognitive path that complements the affective and behavioral path captured by engagement (Hastings et al., 2013). Despite this conceptual fit, empowerment seldom appears together with engagement in continuance models, and few studies integrate both mechanisms to explain long term relationship continuity. Fintech continuance research has begun to extend ECM-IS with empowerment related constructs and to posit dual relational and capability routes, but evidence remains limited in banking (Tam and Oliveira, 2017; Ahmed et al., 2022).
On methods, most continuance studies rely on in sample explanation and standard mediation tests. Consistent with that explanatory focus, we use PLS-SEM to evaluate measurement reliability and validity, collinearity, structural path estimates with bootstrapped confidence intervals, and coefficients of determination, together with mediation via bias corrected bootstrapped indirect effects (Hair et al., 2022; Sarstedt et al., 2021; Nitzl and Chin, 2023). This approach is appropriate for the Indonesian mobile banking context, where the payment landscape has evolved after BI-FAST and SNAP, and to explain how experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust operate through engagement and financial empowerment to shape sustainable relationship continuance (Bank Indonesia, 2021a,b, 2023; United Nations, 2023). The methods align with guidance that PLS-SEM supports theory development beyond in sample fit when the objective is explanation and mechanism testing (Sarstedt et al., 2021; Hair et al., 2022).
Table 1 indicates that prior work has focused on ECM and TAM determinants within single path accounts, leaving the mediating roles of engagement and financial empowerment under specified in explanations of continuance.
Table 1. A comprehensive summary of previous research.
2.4 Conceptual framework
Research on technology use distinguishes pre-adoption and post-adoption phases. Because this study examines continued use, we adopt the expectation confirmation model of IS continuance (ECM-IS) as the primary lens. ECM explains how initial expectations and subsequent confirmation shape satisfaction and the intention to continue use (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Venkatesh et al., 2012; Susanto and Chang, 2016; Tam and Oliveira, 2017;). In digital banking, post-adoption evaluations depend not only on usefulness and confirmation but also on experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust, which capture the reliability and responsiveness of the journey, the fit of offers with user needs, and confidence in provider competence and integrity (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019). On this foundation, we integrate two complementary mechanisms, engagement and financial empowerment, to explain sustainable relationship continuance.
2.4.1 ECM-IS as baseline for continuance
This study is grounded in the Expectation–Confirmation Model of information systems continuance (ECM-IS) as the primary theoretical lens guiding the development of the conceptual framework and hypotheses. ECM-IS provides a grand theoretical foundation for explaining post-adoption behavior by linking users’ evaluations of their experiences to continued use intentions. Building on this foundation, the present study extends ECM-IS by integrating insights from engagement theory and empowerment (capability) perspectives to explain sustainable relationship continuance in mobile banking.
ECM posits that perceived usefulness and confirmation inform satisfaction, which in turn supports continuance (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Venkatesh et al., 2012; Nguyen and Dao, 2024). In service settings such as mobile banking, journey-level experience quality and perceived personalization help confirm expectations by clarifying outcomes and signaling value alignment (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019; Wirtz et al., 2024). Trust further contributes to confirmation by reducing uncertainty and perceived risk in financial tasks through credible security, integrity, and reliable performance (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022; Che et al., 2023). Accordingly, we adopt ECM-IS as the baseline framework for post-adoption evaluations in this study.
2.4.2 Engagement as a relational mechanism
Engagement denotes experiential, affective, and behavioral manifestations of the relationship that extend beyond use to attention, advocacy, and discretionary effort (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Kumar and Reinartz, 2016). Empirical work links experience quality and personalization to stronger engagement, which then supports loyalty and continuance (Brodie et al., 2011; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019). Trust further encourages engagement by signaling competence and benevolence and by lowering perceived risk (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022; Che et al., 2023). In our framework, experience quality, personalization, and trust are expected to raise engagement, which then contributes to sustainable relationship continuance.
2.4.3 Financial empowerment as a capability mechanism
Financial empowerment reflects perceived capability, control, and confidence to manage financial tasks and achieve desired outcomes with digital tools (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024). Evidence from capability and inclusion research indicates that empowerment supports informed choice, reduces behavioral frictions, and enables resilient participation over time (Hastings et al., 2013). In mobile banking, transparent interfaces and reliable service quality enable users to self-manage, responsible personalization signals relevance and fit, and trust lowers perceived risk. These conditions are expected to increase empowerment, which then supports sustainable relationship continuance.
2.4.4 An integrative mediating perspective
Bringing these arguments together, we model engagement and financial empowerment as parallel and complementary mediators that transmit the effects of experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust to sustainable relationship continuance. This mediating perspective extends ECM-IS by adding a relational mechanism (engagement) and a capability mechanism (empowerment) (Bhattacherjee, 2001), supported by the engagement literature (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Ahmed et al., 2022) and capability (empowerment) foundations (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024). The antecedents are grounded in journey-level experience quality (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Ahmed et al., 2022; Perrig et al., 2023; Ho, 2025) and personalization (Bleier et al., 2019; Aksoy et al., 2023; Wirtz et al., 2024), complemented by trust in digital financial tasks (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022; Che et al., 2023). The framework motivates the hypotheses developed below and guides the empirical test using PLS-SEM on Indonesian data.
2.4.5 Justification of construct roles and causal mechanisms
The constructs included in this study are selected to explain sustainable relationship continuance through both relational and capability-based mechanisms rather than as isolated predictors. Experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust are positioned as antecedent perceptions because its capture users’ evaluative judgments of the mobile banking journey, provider relevance, and relational assurance, which are formed through repeated interaction and shape downstream responses (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019; Gefen et al., 2003).
Engagement is specified as a mediating construct because it represents the experiential, affective, and behavioral connection that translates positive evaluations of the service into sustained relational attachment. Prior research shows that experience quality, personalization, and trust do not directly ensure relationship durability unless they foster deeper involvement, attention, and discretionary effort toward the service. Engagement therefore functions as a relational transmission mechanism linking upstream perceptions to sustainable relationship continuance (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Kumar and Reinartz, 2016; Ahmed et al., 2022).
Financial empowerment is included as a complementary mediating construct to capture a capability-based causal mechanism that is conceptually distinct from relational attachment. Empowerment reflects users’ perceived capability, control, and confidence in managing financial tasks through digital financial services. Experience quality and personalization contribute to empowerment by clarifying processes and aligning functionalities with user goals, while trust reduces perceived risk and facilitates learning and autonomous decision making. This capability mechanism is particularly salient in financial services, where long-term participation depends on users’ ability to self-manage financial activities responsibly (Zimmerman, 1995; Hastings et al., 2013; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024).
Sustainable relationship continuance is positioned as the focal outcome because it extends traditional continuance intention by emphasizing relationship durability, responsible use, and inclusion over time. Rather than treating continuance as a narrow behavioral intention, the study conceptualizes sustainable relationship continuance as the result of both relational attachment and perceived capability operating in parallel, consistent with calls to link digital service continuance to broader sustainability and inclusion objectives (World Bank, 2022; OECD, 2022; United Nations, 2023).
An explicit assumption underlying the model is that engagement and financial empowerment function as parallel rather than sequential mediators. While relational attachment and capability development may reinforce each other over time, the model assumes that both mechanisms can independently transmit the effects of experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust to sustainable relationship continuance. This assumption is theoretically grounded in engagement theory and capability-based empowerment perspectives and is appropriate for regulated digital finance contexts where trust and service reliability increasingly function as baseline conditions rather than differentiating factors (Brodie et al., 2011; Zimmerman, 1995; Tam and Oliveira, 2017; Luo et al., 2022).
Engagement and financial empowerment are specified as mediating rather than moderating variables because the theoretical logic of the model emphasizes causal transmission rather than conditional influence. These antecedent perceptions shape users’ internal states before translating into sustainable relationship continuance. Engagement captures the process through which positive service evaluations are converted into relational attachment and involvement, whereas financial empowerment reflects the internalization of these evaluations as perceived capability, control, and confidence in managing financial tasks.
A moderation specification would imply that engagement or empowerment merely alters the strength of the relationship between the antecedents and sustainable relationship continuance. However, prior engagement and empowerment theories emphasize that these constructs function as psychological and behavioral mechanisms that explain how and why post-adoption perceptions lead to durable outcomes, rather than when or under what conditions such effects occur. Accordingly, a mediating specification is theoretically appropriate for explaining sustainable relationship continuance in mobile banking.
2.5 Hypotheses development
Experience quality is a holistic evaluation of the mobile banking journey that includes usefulness, reliability, responsiveness, and ease. Interactions that perform well on these dimensions reduce cognitive effort and uncertainty, signal reliable performance, and foster positive affect that increases users’ willingness to allocate attention and time to the service. These are consistently associated with engagement behaviors such as more frequent interaction, active information seeking, and advocacy (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Ahmed et al., 2022) and are shaped by journey-level experience quality (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Ahmed et al., 2022; Perrig et al., 2023) with supportive recent evidence in digital contexts. Hence, we propose that:
H1: Experience quality positively influences engagement.
Building on this logic, perceived personalization is the extent to which content, offers, and communications are tailored to individual needs. When users perceive a strong fit between the service and their goals, relevance and perceived value rise and emotional attachment deepens, which is associated with higher attention, greater interaction intensity, and co-creation behaviors that characterize engagement (Bleier et al., 2019; Aksoy et al., 2023; Wirtz et al., 2024). Hence, we propose that:
H2: Perceived personalization positively influences engagement.
Trust then provides the relational assurance that sustains deeper involvement. It reflects confidence in provider competence, integrity, and benevolence, supported by credible assurances about security and data protection. In financial services, trust lowers perceived risk and the cognitive burden of continuous monitoring, enabling users to interact more openly with the service. The engagement literature indicates that reduced uncertainty fosters deeper involvement and advocacy for the service (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022; Che et al., 2023). Hence, we propose that:
H3: Trust positively influences engagement.
Beyond the relational route, a capability route should also emerge. Financial empowerment denotes perceived capability, control, and confidence to complete financial tasks and achieve desired outcomes through the service. Clear process flows, responsive feedback, and reliable performance make activities comprehensible and manageable, strengthening self-efficacy and personal agency. In digital banking, consistent experience quality should therefore increase empowerment by enabling users to plan, execute, and verify transactions with clarity (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Ahmed et al., 2022; Perrig et al., 2023; Ho, 2025). Hence, we propose that:
H4: Experience quality positively influences financial empowerment.
In a similar vein, Personalization provides guidance and solutions that match individual circum-stances, converting general functionality into actionable steps toward personal financial goals. When the mobile banking service appears to understand user needs and communicates in a way that fits their situation, perceived control and confidence in managing personal finances increase. This mechanism is central to empowerment because it rests on clarity about means and ends together with perceived self-efficacy (Bleier et al., 2019; Aksoy et al., 2023; Wirtz et al., 2024). Hence, we propose that:
H5: Perceived personalization positively influences financial empowerment.
Trust also supports capability formation by reducing anxiety in high stakes financial decisions and by facilitating learning as the need for constant monitoring declines. As uncertainty recedes, users experience greater agency and control in performing financial tasks, both core components of empowerment. Evidence from financial technologies indicates that credible security and integrity strengthen perceived capability to use the mobile banking service (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022; Che et al., 2023). Hence, we propose that:
H6: Trust positively influences financial empowerment.
If the relational and capability mechanisms operate as theorized, they should translate into relationship durability. Engagement is an experiential, affective, and behavioral connection that goes beyond use and is expressed as sustained attention, active involvement, advocacy, and discretionary effort. By strengthening attitudinal commitment and encouraging repeated interaction, this attachment stabilizes preferences and increases intention to remain with and recommend the mobile banking service, even when alternatives are available. Accordingly, higher engagement (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Ahmed et al., 2022) is expected to support sustainable relationship continuance (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Nguyen and Dao, 2024) in mobile banking. Hence, we propose that:
H7: Engagement positively influences sustainable relationship continuance.
As complements, Financial empowerment denotes users’ perceived capability, control, and confidence to complete financial tasks and achieve desired outcomes through the mobile banking service. Clear task flows, responsive feedback, and reliable performance make activities comprehensible and manageable, thereby strengthening self-efficacy and personal agency. In digital banking, this capability reduces behavioral frictions and supports persistence when conditions change. Financial empowerment thus provides a practical foundation for relationship durability and complements the relational pathway captured by engagement (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024). Hence, we propose that:
H8: Financial empowerment positively influences sustainable relationship continuance.
Within the ECM-IS framework and informed by the literatures on engagement and user capability, we propose that experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust influence sustainable relationship continuance through two complementary mechanisms. Engagement captures the relational, affective and behavioral connection with the service, whereas financial empowerment reflects perceived capability, control and confidence to complete financial tasks. We theorize that these mediators operate in parallel rather than sequentially and together transmit the effects of the antecedents to sustainable relationship continuance. Figure 1 depicts the conceptual model proposed in this study.
Figure 1. Conceptual model showing the mediating roles of engagement and financial empowerment for sustainable relationship continuance.
3 Materials and methods
3.1 Research design
To explore the research questions, we employed a quantitative, hypothesis deductive design in which theory driven propositions were specified a priori and tested empirically. The ECM-IS provides the baseline lens for post-adoption behavior from which eight hypotheses were derived (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Venkatesh et al., 2012; Tam and Oliveira, 2017). Extending ECM-IS, we posit experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust as cognitive antecedents that operate through engagement and financial empowerment as parallel mediators shaping sustainable relationship continuance. We tested eight hypotheses (H1–H8) using partial least squares structural equation modeling, a variance-based procedure suitable for complex models with multiple mediators. We report measurement reliability and validity, collinearity diagnostics, path coefficients with bootstrapped confidence intervals, and coefficients of determination (Hair et al., 2022; Sarstedt et al., 2021; Nitzl and Chin, 2023). PLS-SEM is particularly appropriate for this study because the objective is to explain causal mechanisms and mediation effects rather than to optimize global model fit, and because the model includes multiple parallel mediators and reflective constructs.
3.2 Instrument development
This study extends the ECM-IS framework by incorporating experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust as antecedents, and by modeling engagement and financial empowerment as parallel mediators toward sustainable relationship continuance. All constructs were adapted from validated scales and contextualized to Indonesian mobile banking while preserving semantic equivalence, and no construct meaning was altered. All constructs are modeled reflectively.
Items for sustainable relationship continuance (SRC) were adapted from established continuance and loyalty measures (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Nguyen and Dao, 2024). Items for experience quality (EXQ) were adapted from customer-experience scales capturing reliability, responsiveness, ease of navigation, and ease of learning (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Ahmed et al., 2022; Perrig et al., 2023; Ho, 2025). Items for perceived personalization (PP) were adapted from scales that assess the tailoring and relevance of digital content and communication (Bleier et al., 2019; Aksoy et al., 2023; Wirtz et al., 2024). Items for trust (TRU) drew on validated e-service trust measures (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Luo et al., 2022; Che et al., 2023). Items for engagement (ENG) were adapted from work that conceptualizes experiential, affective, and behavioral connection beyond use (Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Ahmed et al., 2022). Items for financial empowerment (FE) were adapted from measures of perceived capability, control, and confidence in completing financial tasks and making sound decisions through digital services (Zimmerman, 1995; Singh and Sahoo, 2023; Vieira et al., 2024).
All items used a four-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree) to discourage midpoint responding and reduce response effort on mobile devices (Hair et al., 2022). The questionnaire comprised 25 indicators distributed as follows: SRC (3), EXQ (4), ENG (6), PP (5), FE (3), and TRU (4). Measurement items were adapted from validated scales, including Bhattacherjee (2001) for relationship continuance, Klaus and Maklan (2013) for experience quality, Bleier et al. (2019) for perceived personalization, Gefen et al. (2003) for trust, Brodie et al. (2011) for engagement, and Zimmerman (1995) for financial empowerment. Although these foundations were developed earlier, they have been repeatedly applied and validated in recent digital and mobile banking studies, which supports their suitability for the present context. Demographic items recorded gender, age, occupation, number of banking apps used, duration of digital banking use, primary bank, and most frequently used digital features. Operational definitions are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Construct operationalization.
A separate pilot test was not conducted because all measurement items were adapted from well-established and repeatedly validated scales. Measurement quality was instead assessed through reliability and validity testing using the main sample, consistent with recommended practice in PLS-SEM research (Hair et al., 2022).
3.3 Sample and data collection
A purposive sampling strategy was employed to target respondents with sufficient post-adoption experience to evaluate mobile banking use. Data were collected in a cross-sectional online survey hosted on LimeSurvey, a web-based survey tool. The link was disseminated through professional networks and national level associations in financial services and management accounting in Indonesia during June to September 2025. Eligibility required respondents to be active users of a bank mobile application within the last 3 months. Participation was voluntary, anonymous and informed consent was obtained before the survey began. A non-probability convenience sampling approach with purposive screening and referrals was used to reach dispersed mobile banking users, which is acceptable for variance-based SEM applications focused on explanation (Hair et al., 2022). This approach was adopted because no comprehensive and publicly accessible sampling frame of active mobile banking users is available in Indonesia. It is commonly used in post-adoption and PLS-SEM studies where the primary objective is theory testing and explanation of causal mechanisms rather than population-level estimation (Hair et al., 2022). While this sampling strategy limits statistical generalizability, the use of clear eligibility criteria, experienced users, and extensive robustness checks supports the internal validity of the findings.
A total of 351 submissions were received. After screening for incompleteness and invalid patterns, 306 complete cases remained for analysis. Potential non-response bias was examined by comparing early and late respondents on key demographics, focal constructs, and no substantive differences were observed. The final sample comprised 64% men and 36% women, spanned working age groups, and reflected long standing digital banking use with multi app behavior. Most respondents were private sector employees and primarily used traditional banks with digital capabilities. Usage concentrated on transfers and bill payments. While convenience sampling may over represent urban and digitally mature users, the profile provides a pertinent snapshot of Indonesian mobile banking customers. Future studies can employ probability sampling to strengthen generalizability.
The achieved sample size of N = 306 meets and exceeds recommended thresholds for PLS-SEM. Using the 10 times rule based on the maximum number of structural paths pointing at a latent variable, the minimum requirement is comfortably surpassed. Subsequent analyses applied bootstrapping with 5,000 subsamples to obtain standard errors and confidence intervals (Hair et al., 2022; Nitzl and Chin, 2023). In summary, the 306 respondents meet PLS-SEM methodological requirements and the results are robust under bootstrapping.
To mitigate potential common method bias, several procedural remedies were applied. Respondents were assured of anonymity, participation was voluntary, and items were carefully worded to reduce evaluation apprehension and social desirability bias. Measurement items were adapted from validated scales and presented in a structured but neutral format to minimize response pattern effects.
3.4 Data analysis approach
Following a two-stage structural equation modeling procedure, we first evaluated the measurement model and then the structural model. SEM is suitable for explaining direct and indirect relations among latent variables, and PLS-SEM was selected given the model complexity and the presence of parallel mediators (Sarstedt et al., 2021; Hair et al., 2022).
For the measurement model, indicator reliability, internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity were examined using outer loadings, composite reliability, Construct Reliability Coefficient (rhoA), Average Variance Extracted (AVE), the Fornell–Larcker criterion, and Heterotrait–Monotrait Ratio of Correlations (HTMT), with outer Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs) used to inspect indicator collinearity. For the structural model, path coefficients and indirect effects were estimated to test the hypothesized relations and the mediating roles of engagement and financial empowerment. Inner VIFs were inspected to rule out multicollinearity among predictors. Model performance was summarized with coefficients of determination (R2) (Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Henseler et al., 2015; Hair et al., 2022).
PLS-SEM is appropriate for models with multiple mediators, can accommodate correlated predictors, and is robust to departures from normality (Sarstedt et al., 2021; Hair et al., 2022). All constructs in this study are modeled reflectively, and the approach aligns with our mediation focused design and the achieved sample of 306 respondents. These features make PLS-SEM well aligned with the objective of providing a holistic analysis of how experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust relate to sustainable relationship continuance through engagement and financial empowerment (Sarstedt et al., 2021; Hair et al., 2022). Together, these procedures provide robustness checks that support the reliability and validity of the measurement and structural results. Inner and outer VIF values below recommended thresholds further suggest that common method variance is unlikely to bias the estimated relationships. In addition, the consistency of the results across bootstrapped estimates and diagnostic checks indicates that the findings are stable and not sensitive to sampling artifacts.
4 Results
4.1 Descriptive statistics
Out of the survey link disseminated through different media of communication, initially, 351 responses were collected via LimeSurvey. However, after excluding incomplete or invalid entries, 306 responses were retained for further analysis. The usable rate relative to submissions was 87.2% after the removal of incomplete entries.
The retained sample reflects an active and experienced mobile-banking user base. Men accounted for 64% and women 36%. Age concentrated in 30 to 39 years at 49%, followed by 40 to 49 years at 31%. Employment was led by private-sector workers at 55%, followed by entrepreneurs at 23%. Most respondents used more than two banking applications at 69% and had more than 3 years of digital-banking experience at 91%. Access centered on traditional banks with digital capabilities at 96%, and usage was dominated by transfers at 72% followed by bill payments at 24%.
In summary, the Indonesian respondent pool is mature, multi-app, and digitally active, providing an appropriate context for testing continuance within the extended ECM-IS framework and for evaluating the parallel mediating roles of engagement and financial empowerment. Table 3 provides a detailed breakdown of the demographic information.
Table 3. Sample profile summary.
4.2 Common method bias
Data collected from a single self-report source can be subject to common method bias, namely variance attributable to the measurement method rather than the constructs (Podsakoff et al., 2003). In this study, we followed recommended diagnostics (Podsakoff et al., 2003; Hair et al., 2022) and applied Harman’s single-factor test to identify any potential common method bias. The single factor did not dominate the variance, indicating that common method bias is unlikely to threaten inference.
4.3 Measurement model assessment
As shown in Table 4, all indicators loaded strongly on their intended constructs with standardized loadings ranging from 0.705 to 0.895, which exceeds the recommended 0.70 benchmark for reflective measures (Hair et al., 2022). Internal consistency was satisfactory, with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.727 to 0.907 and composite reliability ranging from 0.840 to 0.931, all above the 0.70 threshold (Hair et al., 2022). Convergent validity was confirmed, as AVE values ranged from 0.641 to 0.772 and were thus greater than 0.50 for every construct (Hair et al., 2022).
Table 4. The measurement models.
Discriminant validity was established in two ways. First, the Fornell–Larcker criterion was met because, for each construct, the square root of AVE on the diagonal exceeded its correlations with other constructs, as reported in Table 5 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Second, HTMT ratios were below the conservative 0.90 cut-off and their bias-corrected confidence intervals did not include 1.00, indicating clear separation among constructs (Henseler et al., 2015).
Table 5. Fornell–Larcker criterion.
Multicollinearity did not threaten estimation quality. Outer VIF values fell between about 1.28 and 3.09 and inner VIF values were roughly 1.52 to 1.98, all comfortably below commonly used thresholds of 5 for outer and 3–5 for inner collinearity in PLS-SEM (Hair et al., 2022).
Collectively, these results indicate that the reflective measurement model demonstrates reliable and valid indicators, adequate convergent validity, and satisfactory discriminant validity, providing a sound basis for the subsequent structural model evaluation. Table 6 depicts the means, standard deviations, and construct correlations for the six factors included in this study.
Table 6. Descriptive statistics and correlations.
4.4 Structural model assessment
We assessed multicollinearity in both the measurement and structural models. At the indicator level, VIF values ranged from 1.28 to 3.09, while construct-level VIFs in the inner model ranged from 1.52 to 1.98. These values are well below the accepted thresholds of 3.3 and the conservative 5.0, suggesting that multicollinearity is not a concern in this study (Hair et al., 2022). To evaluate the significance of the model parameters, the bootstrapping procedure with 5,000 subsamples was applied in SmartPLS (Hair et al., 2022; Nitzl and Chin, 2023). As presented in Table 7, all indicators satisfied the VIF requirement, confirming the robustness and stability of the model’s parameter estimates.
Table 7. The collinearity tables.
As shown in Figure 2, the model accounts for 38.4% of the variance in sustainable relationship continuance, 56.3% in engagement, and 57.6% in financial empowerment. In this sample, engagement and financial empowerment are jointly shaped by experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust, with the corresponding estimates reported in Table 8. Taken together, engagement and financial empowerment explain 38.4% of the variance in sustainable relationship continuance, indicating a moderate level of explanatory power for continuance in the digital banking context (Hair et al., 2022).
Figure 2. Standardized path coefficients are shown along the arrows; values inside nodes indicate R2.
Table 8. Path coefficients, t-values and p-values.
Moreover, Figure 2 indicates all hypothesized relations are positive and significant, supporting a mediating structure in which engagement and financial empowerment act as complementary mechanisms linking experience quality, perceived personalization, and trust to sustainable relationship continuance. The relational route through engagement is the more proximate driver of continuance, while the capability route through financial empowerment adds a distinct and substantive contribution. This extends acceptance and expectation confirmation perspectives by clarifying the separate roles of personalization-driven connection and capability grounded in trust and experience quality, and by showing that trust and experience quality exert stronger influence through empowerment than through engagement in this context.
The findings of this study are significant for digital banking providers and policymakers. Engagement is identified as the primary driver of sustainable relationship continuance with a direct effect of β = 0.474, p < 0.001, while financial empowerment shows a smaller yet significant effect of β = 0.210, p = 0.002. Upstream levers are clear. Perceived personalization is the most effective way to raise engagement (β = 0.588, p < 0.001), with additional support from trust (β = 0.131, p = 0.022) and experience quality (β = 0.112, p = 0.044). In contrast, trust is the strongest determinant of financial empowerment (β = 0.344, p < 0.001), followed by perceived personalization (β = 0.282, p < 0.001) and experience quality (β = 0.256, p < 0.001). The model accounts for 56.3% of the variance in engagement, 57.6% in financial empowerment, and 38.4% in sustainable relationship continuance. These patterns suggest that banks should prioritize personalization to strengthen relational connection, while reinforcing security assurances and consistent service quality to build the confidence that underpins financial empowerment.
Comparisons with global evidence show broadly similar priorities for trust, reliable access, and clear benefits in digital financial services, consistent with synthesis and meta-analytic work on mobile banking adoption and post-adoption behavior (Tam and Oliveira, 2017) and with research on customer experience and personalization value (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019; Wirtz et al., 2024). In Indonesia, recent payment infrastructure initiatives such as BI-FAST and SNAP, together with the supervisory and regulatory stance of Bank Indonesia and the Financial Services Authority, create an enabling environment that can reduce convenience frictions and strengthen user confidence (Bank Indonesia, 2021a, 2021b, 2023; Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2021). In addition, the digital bank framework and innovation sandbox under the Financial Services Authority signal regulatory support that may further alleviate security concerns and guide market development (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2021). Overall, while user behavior in our setting follows global patterns that emphasize trust and service reliability, local regulation and market maturity clearly shape priorities, suggesting that providers should continue to build trust, simplify service journeys, and enhance perceived benefits as the market evolves (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019; Wirtz et al., 2024).
5 Discussion
5.1 Theoretical implications
This study offers clear theoretical novelty to the literature on post-adoption behavior and digital banking continuance by advancing how sustainable relationship continuance is conceptualized and explained. By reframing continuance as sustainable relationship continuance (SRC), the study shifts attention from short-term usage intention toward durable, inclusion-relevant digital relationships. It further contributes by demonstrating that engagement and financial empowerment operate as parallel and complementary mediating mechanisms, clarifying that relational attachment and perceived capability represent distinct but interdependent processes sustaining post-adoption relationships. The findings also reveal that, in regulated and digitally mature market contexts such as Indonesia, trust and service reliability increasingly function as baseline conditions, thereby redirecting explanatory emphasis toward capability-based mechanisms. Collectively, these insights extend expectation–confirmation theory beyond incremental applications and provide a more integrative theoretical account of sustainable digital relationship continuance.
Our findings show that relationship continuance is explained by two complementary mechanisms. Engagement is a direct driver of sustainable relationship continuance (H7), while financial empowerment provides an additional and significant contribution to the outcome (H8). In practice, users are more likely to maintain their digital relationship when they feel connected and when they feel capable of managing financial tasks with confidence. This dual explanation extends accounts that typically prioritize a single route by showing that connection and capability operate in parallel rather than in sequence (Tam and Oliveira, 2017).
A central feature of the results is a redistribution of influence across the two mechanisms. Perceived personalization is the strongest stimulus for engagement (H2), whereas experience quality and trust also contribute to engagement but with comparatively smaller magnitudes (H1 and H3). By contrast, financial empowerment is shaped mainly by trust (H6), with additional contributions from perceived personalization (H5) and experience quality (H4). Read together, these patterns indicate that experience quality and trust convey a larger share of their total effect on sustainable relationship continuance through financial empowerment than through engagement, highlighting a capability-oriented pathway for these two antecedents (H4 and H6 with H8 outweigh H1 and H3 with H7). Users who perceive reliable and responsive service and who trust the provider report greater control, confidence, and readiness to perform financial tasks; these perceptions consolidate as financial empowerment, which in turn supports sustainable relationship continuance (H8).
The Indonesian setting helps explain this emphasis on capability. National payment initiatives such as BI-FAST and SNAP, together with oversight from Bank Indonesia and the Financial Services Authority, have institutionalized reliability, security, and interoperability (Bank Indonesia, 2021a,b, 2023; Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2021). When dependable rails and visible protection become baseline expectations, signals of service quality and security function as hygiene or baseline conditions. Their marginal impact on engagement weakens (H1 and H3), while their contribution to perceived control and confidence strengthens the capability pathway via financial empowerment (H4 and H6 with H8). At the same time, perceived personalization continues to strengthen the connection by providing relevance, clarity, and resonance that users experience as engagement (H2 with H7). Comparable regional evidence likewise underscores that trust supported by visible regulation is central to sustaining participation in digital financial services (World Bank, 2022; United Nations, 2023).
This study refines expectation confirmation perspectives by decomposing the post-use mediation space into two proximal pathways. Instead of a single attitudinal mediator as in canonical ECM-IS, engagement and financial empowerment operate in parallel to sustain sustainable relationship continuance (H7 and H8). In this context, beliefs commonly associated with confirmation and perceived usefulness are largely embedded in experience quality and trust, yet their influence is conveyed more strongly through financial empowerment than through engagement (H4 and H6 with H8 outweigh H1 and H3 with H7). The model therefore clarifies role separation among antecedents, where perceived personalization predominantly strengthens engagement (H2), while experience quality and trust primarily build financial empowerment (H4 and H6). Taken together, the findings extend ECM-IS by specifying parallel relational and capability pathways and by suggesting boundary conditions under which market maturity and institutional assurances shift the relative salience of these routes (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Bleier et al., 2019).
Beyond its immediate theoretical contributions, the findings also open several avenues for future research in emerging market contexts. The stronger role of financial empowerment relative to engagement suggests that, in regulated and digitally maturing markets, continuance may increasingly depend on users’ perceived capability and control rather than relational attachment alone. Future studies could examine whether similar dual-path mechanisms operate in other emerging economies with different levels of institutional maturity, regulatory visibility, or payment infrastructure development.
Recent continuance-intention research further indicates that these dynamics are shaped by evolving contextual conditions. For example, perceived experience quality has been shown to play a central role in continuance intention within modified ECM frameworks (Beura et al., 2023), while exposure to misinformation in digital ecosystems can influence payment app continuance decisions (Nanda et al., 2025). Integrating such contemporary contextual factors with engagement and empowerment perspectives may further refine explanations of sustainable relationship continuance in emerging markets.
In addition, future research may extend the proposed framework by incorporating constructs such as habit formation, perceived switching costs, financial literacy, digital resilience, perceived risk, and service recovery. Examining these factors using longitudinal or comparative designs would deepen understanding of how relational and capability-based mechanisms evolve over time and across diverse emerging market settings.
5.2 Managerial and policy implications
For practice, providers should continue to invest in responsible personalization and responsive contact to raise engagement (H2 and H7). In parallel, providers should reinforce financial empowerment by making protection visible, simplifying complex steps, and delivering clear and consistent service quality across the journey (H4, H6, and H8). In Indonesia, these priorities can be aligned with the service promises embedded in BI-FAST and SNAP, together with digital bank governance that emphasizes transparency and data protection under the Financial Services Authority (Bank Indonesia, 2021a,b; Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2021). Together, these actions target both mechanisms and are likely to produce durable gains as the market continues to mature. This focus on strengthening perceived control and confidence is consistent with practical guidance on inclusive and sustainable digital finance (OECD, 2022; World Bank, 2022; United Nations, 2023).
5.3 Limitations and future research
The cross-sectional design and single-country context limit causal inference and generalizability. In addition, the use of convenience sampling may introduce self-selection bias and over-represent digitally mature and urban users, which should be considered when interpreting the findings. Additional constructs such as habit, switching costs, perceived risk, financial literacy, and service recovery may further refine the balance between the relational and capability pathways.
Although several procedural and statistical remedies were applied to mitigate common method bias, future studies may further strengthen robustness by applying full collinearity variance inflation factor (VIF) assessments or marker-variable techniques. These extensions would help enhance methodological rigor and further validate the proposed mediating framework across contexts.
6 Conclusion
This study demonstrates that sustainable relationship continuance in mobile banking is driven by two complementary pathways, engagement (relational connection) and financial empowerment (cognitive capability). The conceptual model extends ECM-IS by modelling these pathways in parallel, offering deeper insight into post-use mechanisms.
From a practical and sustainability standpoint, financial service providers should adopt responsible personalization and responsive engagement strategies, while making consumer protection and service reliability salient throughout the user journey. By doing so, institutions can sustain durable digital relationships, reinforce inclusion, and contribute to equitable financial ecosystems.
In the Indonesian context, national infrastructure initiatives like BI-FAST and SNAP, underpinned by regulatory support, create fertile ground for these mechanisms. Banks can capitalize on this by simplifying user workflows, surfacing risk disclosures, and tailoring support to increase both engagement and empowerment.
Overall, the mediating roles model offers actionable levers for aligning post-adoption behavior with organizational sustainability in digital finance. It suggests that designing for connection and capability can help banks foster enduring, trust-anchored relationships that support inclusion and resilience.
From a methodological perspective, the robustness of the findings is supported by the use of validated measurement scales, a sample size exceeding recommended thresholds for PLS-SEM, and rigorous assessment of measurement reliability, validity, and collinearity. The application of bootstrapping procedures and multiple diagnostic checks further enhances confidence in the stability of the estimated relationships. These methodological strengths reinforce the credibility of the proposed mediating framework and support its relevance for explaining sustainable relationship continuance in mobile banking.
Data availability statement
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Ethics statement
The study involving human participants was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards and institutional guidelines of the authors' affiliated universities. Formal approval by an ethics review board was not required as the research involved minimal risk and anonymous self-reported survey data. Participants provided informed consent electronically before completing the questionnaire, and all responses were kept confidential and used solely for academic purposes.
Author contributions
Neviana: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft. DW: Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
Funding
The author(s) declared that financial support was not received for this work and/or its publication.
Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declared that Generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.
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Supplementary material
The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2026.1728957/full#supplementary-material
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Keywords: ECM-IS, engagement, financial inclusion, financial empowerment, mobile banking, PLS-SEM, sustainable organizations, sustainable relationship continuance
Citation: Neviana and Warganegara DL (2026) Extending the expectation confirmation model toward sustainable relationship continuance: the mediating roles of engagement and financial empowerment in Indonesian mobile banking. Front. Sustain. 7:1728957. doi: 10.3389/frsus.2026.1728957
Edited by:
Hamid Mattiello, Fachhochschule des Mittelstands, GermanyReviewed by:
Yusvita Nena Arinta, IAIN SALATIGA, IndonesiaDhananjay Beura, Biju Patnaik Institute of IT & Management Studies, India
Copyright © 2026 Neviana and Warganegara. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Neviana, bmV2aWFuYUBiaW51cy5hYy5pZA==