Prediction of attitude and behavioural intentions in retail banking

Abstract

Purpose-This research seeks to explore the factors predicting customer loyalty in retail banking. Loyalty was measured in terms of a customer's willingness to recommend a bank and their intention to remain with their main bank short-term (in the next six months) and long-term (from six months to five years). Design/methodology/approach-The study was based on a mail survey of 1,951 individuals. Potential predictors were drawn from the literature and included in three separate regression models to model different types of loyalty. Findings-The results indicate that willingness to recommend is best predicted by affective attitude, overall satisfaction and empathy. Short-term behavioural intentions, however, were best predicted by overall satisfaction and responsiveness, while long-term intentions were predicted by overall satisfaction, affective attitude and empathy. The three models explained a substantial amount of the variation in the dependent variables: 71 per cent for willingness to recommend, 43 per cent for short-term intentions and 46 per cent for long-term intentions. Research limitations/implications-The study adds to the discussion of the relationship between perceived satisfaction, service quality and a customer's intentions to recommend a bank and/or remain a customer. The results also contribute to the development of more parsimonious models, suggesting that affective attitude, overall satisfaction, empathy and responsiveness together explain a large percentage of the variation in customers' intentions. Practical implications-Based on this study's findings, banks can profile customers with potential for defection based on only four variables. Originality/value-The results demonstrate the importance of satisfaction measures and some SERVQUAL dimensions in predicting loyalty in retail banking. It also found evidence that not all five SERVQUAL measures are needed to profile customers and predict loyalty.

Perceptual Differences in Service Quality

“…SERVPERF measures service quality by using the perceptions of customers. Cronin and Taylor argued that only perception was sufficient for measuring service quality and therefore expectations should not be included as suggested by SERVQUAL (Baumann C, 2007). The SERVPERF scale is found to be superior not only as the efficient scale but also more efficient in reducing the number of items to be measured by 50% (Hartline and Ferrell, 1996;Babakus and Boller, 1992).…”

Key Determinants of Service Quality and Self-Service Technologies in Iranian Banking

“…Additional support comes from Zhou (2004), who reported that reliability and assurance were important predictors of satisfaction for bank customers in China. Moreover, Baumann, Burton, Elliot & Kehr (2007) found that all dimensions except tangibility impacted the customer satisfaction of Australian banking customers. Furthermore, due to the intangible nature of services, it is often difficult for customers to understand and evaluate services (LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1988;Legg & Baker, 1996).…”

Driving Force of E-Loyalty in Online Banking Sector in the Context of Malaysia

“…The definition accepted by Zaim et al (2010) discover that substance, reliability, and empathy are the essential factor for customer satisfaction, whereas responsiveness and assurance are vital factors, found by Mengi (2009). Kumar et al (2010) and Lai (2004) found that assurance, empathy, and tangibles are the essential factor, and then again, Baumann et al (2007) found that tangibles are not related to customer satisfaction. At the same time, Ahmed et al (2010) discover that empathy is negatively related to customer satisfaction.…”