Competition Market Study of Tunisia's Retail Banking Sector

Annex C. Consumer and MSME survey methodologies

The OECD commissioned two pieces of research to understand customer behaviour and outcomes in the consumer current account and the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) finance segments. Both surveys were commissioned to EMRHOD Consulting, a market research agency with offices in Tunis and Algiers. This annex describes the methodologies used for these two surveys: one among consumers regarding their current account usage (the consumer survey) and the other among MSMEs on their use of current accounts and finance (the MSME survey).

Consumer survey

The main objectives of the consumer survey were to:

• estimate the proportion of individuals with current accounts, deposit accounts, or neither.

• estimate the shares of supply of providers of current accounts.

• identify the factors influencing individuals’ decisions when choosing current account providers.

• understand how individuals engage with current accounts; among other things, this included assessing consumers’ propensity to shop around for current accounts and to switch providers, and identifying factors that motivated their choices.

• understand the reasons why some individuals do not have current accounts.

The survey’s target population was potential current account customers (18 years old or more). Given that one of the objectives was to estimate the proportion of individuals with current accounts and the shares of supply of providers, the sample was representative of Tunisia’s adult population and included both individuals with current accounts and individuals without them, in addition to individuals with bank current accounts and individuals with postal current accounts.

The remainder of the section includes an overview of the methodology and a description of the questionnaire, the data collection methodology, and the weighting used.

Methodology overview

EMRHOD Consulting carried out 2 999 telephone interviews between June and August 2022. To ensure the sample was representative of the target population, EMRHOD Consulting asked screening questions using the key demographic parameters of geography, age and gender.

Participants in the survey were called using a phone number database that included numbers issued by Tunisia’s four telecommunications operators. Phone numbers were drawn randomly from the database according to the share of supply of each operator. Although this methodology excluded participants who lacked access to mobile phones, it did not exclude many individuals as mobile phone penetration in Tunisia is high, at 130.5% (Instance Nationale des Télécommunications, July 2021).

The representative robustness of the sample was checked using 2014 population census data, the most recent available. Table A.C.1. compares the target population with the sample used by geographical region.

Table A C.1. Adult population broken down by geographical region vs. sample used

Region	2014 census	Sample
Greater Tunis	24%	25%
Northeast	14%	14%
Northwest	11%	9%
Central East	24%	15%
Central West	13%	13%
Southeast	8%	18%
Southwest	5%	6%
Total	100%	100%

Source: Institut National des Statistiques 2014 population census (total population: 10 982 754); OECD consumer survey (D2, N=2 999).

Table A C.2. . compares the target population with the sample by gender and Table A C.3. compares the target population and sample by age.

Table A C.2. Adult population broken down by gender vs. sample used

Gender	2014 census	Sample
Male	49.8%	49.9%
Female	50.2%	50.1%
Total	100%	100%

Source: Institut National des Statistiques 2014 population census (total population: 10 982 754); OCDE consumer survey (D3, N=2 999).

Table A C.3. Adult population broken down by age vs. sample used

Age range	2014 census	Sample
18‑24 years old	16.3%	16.3%
25‑34 years old	20.4%	20.5%
35‑44 years old	19.9%	16.1%
45‑54 years old	16.9%	13.7%
55‑64 years old	22.8%	22.4%
65 years old or more		10.9%
Total	100%	100%

Sources: Institut National des Statistiques 2014 population census (total population: 10 982 754); OECD consumer survey (D1, N=2 999).

Survey questionnaire

The survey questionnaire was developed by the OECD in collaboration with EMRHOD Consulting who translated it into Arabic. It was tested in a pilot involving 50 individuals, resulting in some minor edits prior to its launch.

The final questionnaire comprised 53 questions that were a mix of multiple‑choice and open-ended questions. All multiple‑choice questions included an “other” option in case a respondent’s preferred answer was not listed. No respondent was asked all 53 questions, as many questions depended on responses to previous questions. For example, individuals who said that they did not have current accounts were asked why, while individuals who had current accounts were asked questions about its use. As a result, the total number of questions asked of each respondent depended on their experience and engagement with the current account sector.

The questionnaire was developed to minimise framing effects, i.e. the risk of respondents’ answers being influenced by the survey design. For example, in addition to the pilot and careful drafting of the questions, EMRHOD Consulting randomised the order of the multiple‑choice responses available in some of the questions, for instance in a question asking about the reasons for certain choices. The questionnaire was also designed to be as simple as possible. Questions were restricted to the main account held by consumers and additional questions were asked of consumers with more than one account. In some instances, the questionnaire allowed respondents to choose multiple responses to a single question, for instance, if a question concerned the reasons for certain choices.

The questionnaire included six groups of questions and one set of questions relating to demographics.

• Part A – Introduction: This section included questions asking whether respondents had current accounts and about the providers they used.

• Part B – Shopping around: This section included questions about the propensity to shop around and the criteria used to select providers.

• Part C – Account usage: This section included questions on the frequency of usage of accounts, whether consumers had cards associated with accounts, and about consumer satisfaction.

• Part D – Switching and multi-homing: This section included questions about whether (and if so, when) respondents switched their accounts and for what reasons.

• Part E – Lack of a personal current account: This section included questions about the reasons why some individuals did not have current accounts (if they did not have these accounts).

• Part F – Visits to branches: This section included questions about the reasons for and frequency of visits to bank branches.

Data collection

The survey was conducted on weekdays between 6 June and 10 August 2022. Calls were made between 9:00 and 17:00. Call times were adjusted during July and August according to the séance unique, the habit of businesses to work to in a single session between 9:00 and 14:00 during the hottest summer months. The average duration of the calls was 13 minutes and 41 seconds. To ensure the responses were not biased towards individuals more likely to respond during weekdays (for example, because they worked during the week), EMRHOD Consulting also made calls during one weekend. The results showed no significant difference from the other results, which provided confidence that the results were not being affected by any significant bias.

Interviewers were briefed with an explanation of the objectives of the survey, the targeted population, and the questionnaire. Interviewers also engaged in role‑playing exercises with each other to ensure a consistent approach. Interviewers also received written instructions in electronic format that could be consulted before and during the interviews.

Quality assurance processes were followed to ensure robust results. EMRHOD Consulting supervisors monitored the quality of at least two complete calls per interviewer on the first day of field work and provided feedback and additional training where needed. Subsequently, supervisors listened to 20% of each interviewer’s calls. In addition, the OECD monitored some of the calls for quality-checking purposes. All calls were recorded.

The database was reweighted based on three key demographics: age, gender and geographical region. The weightings used were based on 2014 population census data.

MSME survey

The main objectives of the MSME survey were to:

• estimate the proportion of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with business current accounts.

• estimate the shares of supply of providers of business current accounts.

• understand how MSMEs engage with current accounts and identify the factors influencing MSMEs’ decisions when choosing current account providers.

• understand how MSMEs shop around for finance and identify the key barriers preventing MSMEs from accessing finance.

The survey’s initial target population was small and medium enterprises (i.e. firms with more than 5 and fewer than 200 employees). Given the initial low response rate, the scope of the survey was broaden to include micro enterprises. The remainder of the section includes an overview of the methodology and a description of the questionnaire, of the data collecting methodology and the weighting used.

Methodology overview

EMRHOD Consulting carried out 1 006 interviews between July and October 2022. The initial 489 interviews were done by phone (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing or CATI). However, given the low response rate, EMRHOD Consulting completed the remaining 516 interviews face‑to-face (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing or CAPI). To ensure the sample was representative of the target population, EMRHOD Consulting asked screening questions using key demographics parameters of number of employees, geography, and economic sector.

Interviews were pre‑arranged and conducted with either the owner of the business, the finance manager or appropriate employees involved in the decisions about opening and managing the business current account and dealing with requests for finance.

The contact details of respondents to the MSMEs survey come from a database that collates information from a range of sources including the Pages Jaunes de Tunisie, or Yellow Pages of Tunisia, and the Ministry of Industry’s database of industrial enterprises (Ministry of Industry, 2023[1]). This means that informal companies were not represented in the sample, which thus likely overestimated the true proportion of businesses with current accounts.

The representatives of the sample was checked using information from the Registre Nationale des Entreprise (RNE), or National Business Registry. Table A C.4. compares the target population with the sample used by number of employees.

Table A C.4. MSMEs broken down by number of employees vs. sample used

Firm type	Number of employees	RNE	Sample
Micro	1‑5 employees	50%	35%
Small	6‑49 employees	44%	52%
Medium	50‑199 employees	6%	12%
Total		100%	99%

Note: Total may not sum up to 100 due to rounding.

Source: Registre Nationale des Entreprises; MSME survey (S1, N=1006).

Table A C.5. compares the target population with the sample by geographic region and Table A C.6. compares the target population and sample by economic sector.

Table A C.5. MSMEs broken down by geographic region vs. sample used

Region	RNE	Sample
Greater Tunis	44%	46%
Northeast	4%	5%
Northwest	5%	9%
Central East	30%	29%
Central West	5%	1%
Southeast	8%	8%
Southwest	3%	1%
Total	99%	99%

Note: Total may not sum up to 100 due to rounding.

Source: Registre Nationale des Entreprises; MSME survey (S3, N=1006).

Table A C.6. MSMEs broken down by economic sector vs. sample used

Economic sector	RNE	Sample
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	3%	2%
Industry	36%	12%
Construction	8%	6%
Trade. Automotive and Household Goods Repair	23%	6%
Transport and Storage	3%	3%
Accommodation and catering	5%	3%
Information and communication	4%	6%
Other activities	19%	64%
Total	100%	100%

Note: Total may not sum up to 100 due to rounding.

Source: Registre Nationale des Entreprises; MSME survey (S2, N=1006).

Survey questionnaire

As for the consumer survey, the questionnaire of the MSME survey was developed by the OECD in collaboration with EMRHOD Consulting, who translated it into Arabic. It was tested in a pilot involving 50 firms, resulting in some minor edits prior to its launch.

The final questionnaire comprised 64 questions that were a mix of multiple‑choice and open-ended questions. All multiple‑choice questions included an “other” option in case a respondent’s preferred answer was not listed. No respondent was asked all 64 questions, because many questions depended on responses to previous questions, for example on whether respondents had a current account or applied for finance. The total number of questions asked to each respondent depended on their experience and engagement with the current account sector and their finance needs.

As for the consumer survey, the survey was designed to minimise framing effects. EMRHOD Consulting carried out a pilot and randomised the order of the multiple‑choice responses available. The questionnaire was also designed to be as simple as possible. The questionnaire included seven groups of questions and one set of questions relating to characteristics of the enterprises. The first five groups of questions broadly mirrored the questions in the consumer survey.

• Part A – Introduction: This section included questions asking whether respondents had current accounts and about the providers they used.

• Part B – Shopping around: This section included questions about the propensity to shop around and the criteria used to select providers.

• Part C – Account usage: This section included questions on the frequency of usage of accounts, whether consumers had cards associated with accounts, and about consumer satisfaction.

• Part D – Switching and multi-homing: This section included questions about whether (and if so, when) respondents switched their accounts and for what reasons.

• Part E – Lack of a personal current account: This section included questions about the reasons why some individuals did not have current accounts (if they did not have these accounts).

• Part F – Access to finance: This section included questions about enterprises’ journey to finance.

• Part G – Cross-border transactions: This section included questions about the need and use of cross-border payment facilities.

Data collection

The survey was conducted on weekdays between 27 June and 13 October 2022. As for the consumer survey, calls were made between 9:00 and 14:00 in July and August and between 9:00 and 17:00 otherwise. Given that the respondents were businesses, there was no concern about conducting interviews only during weekdays. The average duration of the calls was 17 minutes and 15 seconds. Interviewers were briefed with an explanation of the objectives of the survey, the targeted population and the questionnaire. Interviewers also engaged in role‑playing exercises with each other to ensure a consistent approach. Interviewers also received written instructions in electronic format that could be consulted before and during the interviews.

The same quality assurance processes followed for the consumer survey were used to ensure robust results of the MSME survey. The OECD monitored some of the calls for quality check purposes and EMRHOD Consulting supervisors monitored the quality of at least two complete calls per interviewer on the first day of field work and provided feedback. Overall, all calls were recorded and 20% of the calls made by each interviewer were checked.

The database was reweighted based on three key demographics: number of employees, geography, and economic sector. The weightings used were based on number of employees, geography, and economic sector.

References

[1] Ministry of Industry, E. (2023), Directory of industrial enterprises, http://www.tunisieindustrie.nat.tn/en/dbi.asp (accessed on 7 June 2023).