Social Impacts of Bank Closures on a Small Rural Community: The Case of Merriwa
Despite consumer criticism of the rationalization strategies adopted by the Australian financial institutions, no identified research has examined the social impact of such strategies. This paper addresses this lacuna by first quantifying the extent of banking customer discontentment in a rural community affected by the closure of its only bank, and then exploring the impact of this discontentment on quality of life. Results reveal that consumer satisfaction with their personal well-being is perceived to improve marginally despite increasing discontentment with banking services. This finding has significant implications for theory and practice.