Operations in banking: the service quality and effects on satisfaction and loyalty

Abstract

This paper studies the service quality provided by the banks. The objectives are (i) to identify which aspects of the transactions carried out by the banks are important for the service quality perceived by the customers, taking into account some aspects that are sometimes ignored (online channels) and (ii) to observe how service quality influences customer satisfaction and how customer satisfaction affects the loyalty towards the bank. Using a factor analysis, the research identifies the operative, physical, new technologies and human factors. Next, using structural equations models with AMOS, the results show an influence of the operative aspects and the new technologies on service quality, as well as the confirmation of quality as a precedent to customer satisfaction, and how such satisfaction influences on customer's loyalty towards the bank.

Keywords:

• service quality
• satisfaction
• loyalty
• structural equations
• banking sector

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions as well as the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Project ECO2009-09283.

Notes

In a similar way, some authors such as Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi (2003, p. 464) group the five SERVQUAL dimensions only into three (human skills, tangibles and empathy).

Another explanation to justify the use of a global variable is that some authors had already used it to establish the convergent validity by correlating scale results and global quality assessment (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Vandamme & Leunis, 1993). Regarding the banking sector, Avkiran (1994) also raised additional questions to demonstrate the convergent validity of the instrument.