Bank service quality: empirical evidence from Greek and Bulgarian retail customers (original) (raw)

Bank service quality: evidence from five Balkan countries

Managing Service …, 2006

Purpose -Despite the rapid growth and internationalisation of services and financial services in particular, managers realise that to successfully leverage service quality as a global competitive tool, they first need to correctly identify the antecedents of what the international consumer perceives as service quality. This paper aims to examine the differences: in perceptions of service quality; and in the ranking of quality dimension between the bank customers of five Balkan countries: Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, FYROM and Serbia. Design/methodology/approach -Bahia and Nantel proposed a specific scale for measuring perceived service quality in retail banking consisting of six dimensions of service quality: effectiveness and assurance; access; price; tangibles; service portfolio; and reliability. This instrument was used for collecting data in the context of banking services from the five Balkan countries. T-test and factor analysis were employed to answer the research questions. Findings -The results suggest that Greek customers perceived receiving the highest level of service quality. Differences and similarities between the countries were also reported related to the degree of importance attached to the BSQ dimensions of service quality. Practical implications -The results have significant implications for banks in developing operational, marketing and human resource strategies in the Balkan context. Originality/value -The international bank managers need to understand the value of environmental differences between countries in terms of economic development, political situation, socio-cultural system and the level of sector maturity. Accordingly they can emphasise the various dimensions of service quality differently and in addition focus on commonalities to introduce quality initiatives in the Balkans.

Key determinants of service quality in retail banking

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to build a retail-banking specific quality scale and, through its examination and comparison with the SERVQUAL and BSQ metrics that are currently used in banking, to deepen understanding of quality determinants in the industry. Furthermore, the study is set to provide additional input to the debate over generic against setting/industry/time-specific quality metrics. Design/methodology/approach – The study is implemented through a two-stage process of literature review and empirical survey. Evidence drawn from Greek retail banking, through a specially designed research tool, is analyzed through reliability, factorial and regression analysis to determine the scale's item and factorial structure and assess its reliability and validity. Findings – The BANQUAL-R metric is introduced, with key elements assurance/empathy, effectiveness, reliability and confidence, a combination of SERVQUAL and BSQ dimensions. Findings back the setting-specific approach of service quality and the notion that SERVQUAL provides the skeleton on which setting-specific scales should be built. Practical implications – Bank managers are provided with a reliable and valid metric of service quality in retail banking. Its dimensionality implies that under credit-crunch conditions service delivery should be directed towards reinstating customers' trust and confidence that are put in danger. Banks should redirect resources from tangibles to the human contact-related service elements. Originality/value – Although the subject of “service quality measurement” is extensively researched, the continuously changing marketing environment calls for an ongoing assessment of quality factors. With respect to its academic value, the study accumulates knowledge that will eventually outgrow the boundaries of academia and pervade management.

Service quality in banking: developing and testing measurement instrument with Latvian sample data

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013

The paper highlights the importance of managing service quality in banking that can positively affect customer satisfaction. The goal of the given study is to develop an instrument for measuring service quality perceived by Latvian banks’ retail customers and to determine the most important contributors to customer satisfaction. To achieve this purpose, randomly selected customers of Latvian banks were surveyed, using the authors’ developed questionnaire. The proposed instrument was tested for reliability and validity, using techniques of confirmatory factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis yielded five service quality dimensions (factors) that allowed constructing customer satisfaction factor model EPICA: E – expenses, P – product, I – image, C – competence and emotional intellect, A – access. The subsequent correlation analysis revealed that the strongest relationship is between customer satisfaction and C factor. The results of the current research are crucially important fo...

Measuring Service Quality Dimensions in Nationalized and Private Banks

Strategic Infrastructure Development for Economic Growth and Social Change

Quality generally refers to something done by human beings at a very high level of excellence, oftentimes in the sense of works of perfection as being distinctive from inferior to mediocre performance. This chapter is an analytical study based mainly on the primary data collected through a scientifically developed scale. The scale was personally administered on a sample size of 202, chosen on a convenient basis from two banks, a nationalized bank and private bank. The scale of Parasuraman, Zeithml, and Berry (1986, 1988) was used here. In order to achieve higher levels of quality service in banking, banks should deliver higher levels of service quality, and in the present context, customers' perceptions are highest in the level of infrastructure facilities of the bank. Owing to the increasing competition in retail banking, customer service is an important part and bank managers should rethink how to improve customer satisfaction.

Identifying service quality dimensions as antecedents to customer satisfaction in retail banking

Economic and Business Review, 2010

Th is paper explores service quality in a retail bank setting in Slovenia and its infl uence on customer satisfaction. In previous studies both SERVQUAL and SERVPERF scales have been used for measuring service quality. Based on SERVPERF a 28-item scale has been developed for this study. Th rough factor analysis four dimensions of service quality have been obtained. Th e results from regression analysis suggest that all four dimensions of service quality as well as service range infl uence customer satisfaction. Th e information provided by this research can be used when designing marketing strategies to improve customer satisfaction in retail banking.

The impact of service quality and service characteristics on customer satisfaction in the North Macedonian banking sector

Bankarstvo

The aim of this research is to analyze the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in the North Macedonian banking sector. The study aims to show that customer satisfaction is based on the role and impact of service quality. We try to find out which service quality dimensions may enhance customer satisfaction in a better way in Bank Y. We examined a range of theories and concepts related to customer satisfaction, service, service quality, loyalty, SERVQUAL model and financial services. Within the investigation process, we have collected data out of 68 completely and correctly filled questionnaires. The results confirmed that there is a connection between service quality and customer satisfaction. We have found out that there are significant dimensions where banks should make improvements in order to achieve positive impressions and experience of its clients. Following, we gave a proposed strategy and instructions for action as a finalization part of this research.

Service Quality Evaluation in Latvian Banking

ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT, 2012

The competitive power of a bank is largely defined by the degree of its conformance to customer needs. Thus, customer satisfaction and loyalty are critically important factors to achieve long-term business prosperity in banking. In turn, customer satisfaction depends on provided service quality and its perception by customers. The goal of the research is to take the opinions of Latvian citizens about the service quality in Latvian banks. Besides, the aim was to compare bank customers' and employees' perceptions of service quality and to evaluate the gap. To achieve these goals, the authors used their own developed questionnaires. To evaluate bank service quality, SERVPERF and weighted SERVPERF models were applied. Data processing was conducting with SPSS and AQUAD programs. The scientific contribution of the authors is development and approbation of the qualitative instrument for measuring service quality that can be used by bank managers to make right marketing decisions.

Service Quality Dimensions in the Banking Sector

Quing: International Journal of Commerce and Management, 2021

The dynamic role played by services marketing in the growth and development of any country is tremendous and inevitable, since emphasis is on to delivery of quality services in all the sectors. This paper examines the discriminatory power of service quality dimensions regarding 'Tangibility', 'Reliability', 'Responsiveness', 'Assurance', and 'Empathy' with respect to Public bank, Private Bank and Foreign Bank. The standardized questionnaire is used to collect the data and SPSS package is used to carry out percentage and Multiple Discriminant Analysis.

Client Expectations and Preferences for Service Quality Dimensions in Bank Services in Republic of North Macedonia

2020

This paper includes an in-depth analysis of the banking service quality with detailed tracking of the elements of customer expectations from banking services in the Republic of North Macedonia. The aim of this paper is to identify the level of client expectations for bank services, determining the essential dimensions that would cause satisfactory banking services. In total 330 bank customers were surveyed for this research, while a modified questionnaire for banking attributes was used. Customer expectations are measured using the SERVQUAL model, where 22 items as part of 5 dimensions are considered the research variables. Through analyzing the data, it was confirmed that the expectations for the Banking service quality in the Republic of North Macedonia are very high, with an average value of 6.53 measured with a seven-point Likert scale. According to the results obtained from the research based on the priorities of the clients for the 5 quality dimensions, Reliability was chosen ...