An Integrated Model of Quality for Mass Services in the Context of the Ghanaian Retail Banking Sector

This study draws upon the service literature and operationalizes the investment model in the services domain to examine factors that contribute to customers’ desire to maintain service relationships with firms (i.e., retail banks) in an emerging economy in sub‐Saharan Africa: Ghana. We empirically test the explanatory power and robustness of the investment model using 218 customers of various banking institutions in Ghana. Results from partial least squares—structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM)—reveal that (1) service quality is positively associated with customer satisfaction, investment size, and customer commitment; and (2) while customer satisfaction is positively associated with customer commitment, both investment size and quality of attractive alternatives are not associated with customer commitment. Interestingly, we found investment size to have a positive association with customer commitment only when fully mediated by customer satisfaction. Our model reveals that service quality and customer satisfaction predict 79.3% of the variation in customer commitment toward maintaining a service relationship with their retail banks. Discussion and managerial implications conclude the article. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking Services in Ghana

Recent studies indicate high competitiveness of the Ghanaian banking industry, making it difficult for banks to satisfy and retain customers. However, little empirical knowledge exists on the determinants of customer satisfaction toward the services delivered by the banks. This article reports a study of the determinants of customer satisfaction of retail bank services in Ghana. An extensive review of the extant literature was used to identify the theoretical determinants of customer satisfaction in retail banking and their measurement scales. These were adapted to build a conceptual framework for the empirical investigation conducted. Data were collected using a questionnaire administered through personal interviews to 650 customers of retail banks, and the results were factor analyzed and regressed. The empirical results indicated that relational, core, and tangible dimensions of service were positively associated with customer satisfaction in retail banks in Ghana. The study discusses the strategic implications of the findings for the management of customer satisfaction for retail banks operating in Ghana. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Understanding Customer Role and its Importance in the Formation of Service Quality Expectations

A search of the Service Quality (SQ) and Customer Satisfaction (CS) literature reveals a gap in knowledge relating to the ‘expectation’ formation aspect of the disconfirmation paradigm.

Little consideration has been given to the ‘role’ of the customer in the service encounter, albeit that the above literature mostly customer that one measure of output performance comprises a customer comparison of the various delivery components with a self-established standard, of which ‘expectations’ appears the most common. A need exists to identify not only how customers define the standards and parameters for evaluation, but also, how the customers’ understanding of their role during service interaction affects the expectations they form.

This paper addresses the above need through the development and subsequent exploratory testing of a conceptual model of expectation formation. In addition to the recognised expectation antecedents of ‘experience’ and ‘familiarity,' two ‘role’ construct dimensions ‘role understanding’ and ‘role benefit’ are introduced in a broader expectation antecedent framework. The relationship between ‘experience’ and ‘familiarity’ with respect to expectations is found to be indirect in nature; with ‘role understanding’ and ‘role benefit’ both performing a mediator function. Managerial and research implications are discussed.     

Exploring manager’s perspective of service quality strategies in Malaysian Banking Industry

In service industry, the subject of service quality remains crucial as business strive to maintain a comparative advantage in the marketplace. In aftermath of globalization, the operating environment for banking industry has become more dynamic and competitive. Banks have evolved to become diversified financial providers instead of traditional banking-only service providers. With bank placing emphasis on a mutually beneficial bank–customer relationship, customer loyalty must be pursued through repeat purchases. Central to achieving this is often the quality of services offered by the bank should satisfy the customer’s needs. This article attempts to identify any service gaps in Malaysian banking industry and to recommend effective strategies to close these service gaps from bank mangers’ and executives perspectives based on GAPs Model of Service Quality (GAPs Model). Using qualitative data collected from interviews with 30 bank managers and executives, this article provides effectives strategies to close each of the gaps in GAPs Model. It is hoped that the empirical evidences and recommendations provided in this article shed some light to management of banks to improve upon their customer service quality in order to benefit from customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and other behavioural outcomes which will lead to greater competitive advantage and profitability to the banks concerned.     

Customers�� zone of tolerance for retail stores

The present study describes the zone of tolerance for customers’ service expectations and determines their satisfaction level for retail stores. It attempts to diagnose the service quality level of customers’ in retail store setting. A conceptual model RETZOT is presented in this study, and the results demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations—‘desired’ and ‘adequate’—and that customers use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating retail store services. The findings reveal that customers have a narrow zone of tolerance with regards to the services provided by retail stores.     

The Effect of Cultural Distance on International Marketing Strategy: A Comparison of Cultural Distance and Managerial Perception Measures

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to examine whether service convenience increases customer satisfaction that fosters customer loyalty in Indian commercial banks. A cross-sectional study of 352 retail banking customers through questionnaires was conducted. The population of the study is retail urban customers of banks in Rajasthan. Responses are analyzed using structural equation modeling. Dimensions of service convenience are decision convenience, access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, and postbenefit convenience. Decision convenience was found to influence customer satisfaction more than the other dimensions of service convenience. Customer satisfaction furthers customer loyalty. The article emphasizes the significance of SERVCON on customer satisfaction for the Indian banking sector. The direct impact of SERVCON on customer loyalty is also studied.     

Books received

The zone of tolerance has emerged from both the service quality and satisfaction literature to represent both a range of expectations and an area of acceptable outcomes in service interactions. In this study, hypotheses are derived from existing literature concerning the possible impact of the "disposition of the customer" i.e. whether cumulative experience has left the customer favourably or negatively disposed towards the service, on the zone of tolerance. In addition, the impact of the importance attached by consumers to the dimensions of service quality upon the zone of tolerance are also investigated. Findings from a quantitative, cross sectional analysis suggest that customers who are more favourably disposed towards the service have a higher level of adequate expectations and a smaller zone of tolerance. In addition, the importance attached to the dimensions of service quality appears to influence the level of desired expectations. Finally, and perhaps surprisingly, those dimensions of service quality generally considered the most important appear to be linked to a larger zone of tolerance.     

Please smile,the CCTV is running!

This paper examines the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) system notices in banks. This study was designed to measure the effect of the wording of CCTV notices on customer service quality expectations and purchase intent, while also considering the customer involvement as the moderating effects. Results show that customers, in expectation of better service quality, may be more likely to purchase the service when moderately worded CCTV notices (i.e. ‘please smile, the CCTV is running!’) had been employed in the bank rather than when the negatively worded CCTV notices (i.e. ‘Taping now! All your behaviour here is monitored by the CCTV system!’) are deployed. These effects were stronger in low-involvement situations. Implications of the findings and the future research directions are also discussed.     

Managing Customer Switching Behavior in the Banking Industry

This study aimed to explore the factors that lead to the intention to stay and the intention to switch in the banking industry. The research adopted a qualitative, inductive approach to data collection using a sample of 19 Australians customers who use banking services, and two Australian bank managers. The factors that are important to the customers' decision to change banks or to diversify their accounts include: (a) customer service and customer intimacy; (b) response to service failure; (c) effect of advertising; (d) reputation; (e) ease of banking; and (f) customer value.     

Nigerian Banks-Quality of Services

Abstract

The qualitative characteristics of the service are becoming increasingly important. Quality improvements can lead to increased revenues and decreased costs as a result of increased customer loyalty and the cross-selling of bank products, as loyal customers spend more with chosen banks, attract lower administration costs and are more profitable. The objective of this research is to identify customers' expectations and perceptions of bank service quality to determine the service quality level. It also aims to determine key factors in selecting a particular bank. The findings of the research suggest that the key factors in selecting a particular bank are credibility, location and range of services. The majority of respondents are dissatisfied with the quality of services provided by banks in Nigeria. The research has indicated that complicated procedures and forms, queuing time, lack of individual approach and absence of new technology are some of the factors which create dissatisfaction and lack of co-operation between firms and banks. Interestingly these results are similar to customers in developed countries as indicated by similar studies in developed countries.     

Diagnosing service quality using customer reviews: an index approach based on sentiment and gap analyses

Recognizing the importance and potential benefits of customer reviews as a source of the voice of customers, this study proposes an analytic framework and procedures for analyzing customer reviews—termed a customer review-based gap analysis—that are tailored to diagnosing service quality. To this end, we conduct sentiment analysis on customer reviews to capture customers’ perceptions and expectations at the service-feature level, which are not expressed explicitly in their reviews. A case study of a mobile navigation service shows that the customer review-based gap analysis can provide the practical information required to diagnose service quality from customer review data. The suggested indexes for capturing customers’ perceptions and expectations reveal quality strengths and drawbacks at the service-feature level. In addition, incorporating these indexes into those for quality performance and objectives based on a service-feature hierarchy provides a diagnostic tool capable of examining service quality in both overall as well as detailed aspects.     

Pricing of card payment services in Scandinavian banking: a comment

Willesson [(2009). Pricing of card payment services in Scandinavian banking. The Service Industries Journal, 29(3), 387–399] purports to demonstrate that when it comes to pricing of card payment services, Scandinavian banks with foreign operations will typically align themselves with the ‘pricing tradition’ in their foreign market(s). Unfortunately, a problem with Willesson's approach is that for several banks in his sample the foreign pricing tradition happens to coincide with the pricing strategy that the bank uses in its home market. As a result, it is impossible to determine whether these banks have really opted for a strategy of national responsiveness.     

The link between corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty: Empirical evidence from the Islamic banking industry

Increased support from customers for Islamic financial services is very important to create resilience and competitiveness in the Islamic banking industry. By highlighting certain social activities, this paper estimates the role of Islamic banks’ CSR in influencing customer loyalty, both individually and through the integrated roles of image, trust, satisfaction, and reputation. These paths explore how CSR makes customers impressed, convinced, satisfied, amazed, and ultimately loyal to Islamic banks. The empirical analysis of partial least square structural equation modeling (n = 283) has shown that CSR directly and positively impacts loyalty. Indirectly, these two aspects have an insignificant relationship through the serial roles of image-reputation and satisfaction-reputation, but significant through the single role of reputation and the serial role of trust-reputation. This study has resulted in an updated prediction model of Islamic banking customer loyalty. The practical implication lies in the importance of developing CSR to generate trust and reputation which ultimately increase customer loyalty toward Islamic banks.     

There is no dark side of customer aggression − It’s all dark

ABSTRACT

Customer mistreatment is a daily experience of service employees, with a considerable accumulating adverse impact reflected in distress, reduced performance and withdrawal. This paper builds on research addressing the universality of customer aggression and the I3 model which is used to explain aggression, to describe how the combined impact of norms of perfectionism and intensified customer–employee power differentials engender prevalent customer aggression. It is suggested that constant violation of unrealistic expectations threatens customers’ inflated sense of worth. Additionally, because service employees are prevented from both the ‘fight’ and the ‘fight’ reactions to customer aggression, social exchange in the service context does not involve any sanctions for customers. It is recommended that, similar to sexual harassment and organisational bullying, customer aggression should be addressed through legislation requiring organisations to protect their employees.     

Exploring the relationship between individual values and the customer orientation of front-line employees

Abstract

Because of the nature of services, namely the inseparability of production and consumption, employee behaviours influence customer perceptions of service quality and satisfaction with the service provider. In particular, customer-oriented employees seek to help customers by addressing their needs, and this contributes to the building of customer satisfaction and the development of a relationship. Not surprisingly, research has been investigating the drivers of employees’ customer orientation. This paper examines how individual values influence the customer orientation of front-line service employees, a topic that has been unexplored in extant literature, and this is useful for the selection of employees who match the firm’s service strategy. To accomplish this, the study relies on the Schwartz value theory, which is applied to front-line employees in banking. The findings indicate that both resultant conservation and resultant self-enhancement affect the customer orientation of employees, and that these effects are moderated by job satisfaction and autonomy.     

Examining the Customer Experience of Using Banking Chatbots and Its Impact on Brand Love: The Moderating Role of Perceived Risk

In today’s digitally enabled world, banks offer chatbots to improve customer service. This research looks at chatbots as a form of an information system. It observes the effect of the three quality dimensions of the information system success model on customer experience, further leading to love for the bank brand. As chatbots are a new technology platform, consumers may find some risk in its use. Hence, the moderating role of perceived risk between the three quality dimensions and customer experience is also observed. The survey method was employed to conduct the study. Data were collected from 258 respondents. The results provide a definite direction for banks to strengthen the consumer–brand relationship by offering chatbots suiting their customers’ expectations.     

Credibility and Staff Conduct Make or Break Bank Customer Service Quality

ABSTRACT

Service quality is assessed by customers along the dimensions of staff conduct, credibility, communication, and access to teller services. Credibility and staff conduct emerge as the highest loading first-order factors. This highlights the significance of rectifying mistakes while keeping customers informed, and employing branch staff that are responsive and civilized in their conduct. Discovery of a valid second-order factor, namely, overall customer service quality, underscores the importance of providing quality service across all its dimensions. For example, if the bank fails to rectify mistakes and keep customers informed but excels in all other dimensions, its overall customer service quality can still be rated poorly.     

Interpretive structural modeling for E-electricity utility service

Service quality has been recognized as one of the major factors for an organization's sustainability. It is one of the driving forces for an organization??s achievement. Service quality may be represented by the comparison between customers?? expectations of how a company or organization should perform and the customer??s perception of the service performance. For successful delivery of public services, use of online technology has rapidly become a benchmark for effective public sector management. Governments worldwide are attempting to harness the potential offered by these new technologies to create new dimensions of economic and social progress. The present article discusses the important aspects of customer's satisfaction in service quality of E-electricity utility service by interpretive structural modeling method.     

The interrelationships among service quality,customer satisfaction,and customer loyalty: Examination of the fast-food industry

The purpose of this study was to use customers’ perspectives to develop a conceptual model for improving service quality and enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The 197 samples were selected from customers of leading fast food franchise enterprises in Taiwan. The research results indicate that service quality positively influences customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Service quality positively influences customer loyalty through customer satisfaction. The research findings indicate that managers need to ensure they have efficient service quality to enhance customer satisfaction and customer loyalty levels.     

Understanding registration influences for electronic banking

Abstract

The growth in online or e-banking has resulted in customers interacting with their banks through remote technological channels to a greater extent. That said, there is much variation in online banking registration and adoption levels and little is understood about actual customer motivators and perceived barriers to registration for online banking services. As part of a larger study exploring the impact of the Internet on bank – customer relationships, this paper reports on key findings which shed light on such motivators and inhibitors for online banking registration. The results show that convenience (through 24-hour banking access) and reassurance about security are the most important considerations for customers in registering for e-banking within the case bank. Marketing implications for the case bank, as well as the broader industry, are discussed.