THE INFLUENCE OF SERVICE CONVENIENCE ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON BANKING INDUSTRY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

The role of customers in services is always emphasized in the marketing literature, especially in the recent development of a new perspective, namely service-dominant logic. Service convenience is acknowledged to be increasingly important to customers:yet extant convenience literature offers little explicit discussion of this topic. Consumer convenience in buying and using services is not well understood.

Convenience is the ability to reduce consumers non-monetary costs (i.e. time, energy and effort) when purchasing or using goods and services (Chang & Polonsky, 2012). Colwell et al (2008) note that, in homogeneous markets, where service offerings are similar and therefore not key competitive differentiators, providing greater convenience June enable a competitive advantage. Previous researchers have proposed certain important relationships linked to service convenience: for example, service convenience can directly affect customer satisfaction and lead to customer loyalty. The goal of improving service encounters is to increase positive consumer outcomes, where satisfaction is one such outcome. Chang and Polonsky (2012) in their research of service convenience have found that only benefit and post-benefit convenience are associated with improved behavioral intentions and that satisfaction partially mediates the relationship for those two types of convenience.

Chen et al (2011) have found that customers perception of home delivery service elements are classified into one-dimensional and must-be attributes by Kano model, while this study contributes to the creation of attractive elements that significantly affect the customer satisfaction and owing an enormous potential to further differentiate competitors. Customer satisfaction is positively correlated with different types of service convenience. Service quality has been found to directly affect behavioral intentions (Croninet al., 2000; Gremler & Brown, 1996) and has also been shown to indirectly influence behavioral intentions through value and satisfaction. Several authors have found that consumer satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality and behavioral intentions (i.e. Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Athanassopoulos, 2000; Cronin et al., 2000). Therefore, understanding the relationships between service convenience that affect customer satisfaction and behavioral responses (intention to switch and word of mouth) is the main concern of this study.The goal of this research is to help managers and researchers understand behavioral responses to service convenience from the customers’ perspective. Not only does this research effort differ from prior research on the subject, but also it extends the relevant literature in two important dimensions.

1.2      Statement Of Problem

Although studies on the services Convenience based on customer perceptions have been extensively investigated, no recent researches have been performed to investigate the impacts of the dimensions of services Convenience on customer satisfaction in the integrated model (Kheng et al., 2010). Furthermore, improving service delivery in the banking business is expected to affect the quality of service and customer satisfaction. On the other hand, the client will use a variety of dimensions / attributes that are important to customers to identify the quality of service through the customer satisfaction. These service dimensions/attributes play a significant role within service measurement, since they serve as indicators of services Convenience and customer’s satisfaction (Craneand Clark, 1988). As described before, services Convenience was found to influence the customer satisfaction. This study attempts to investigate the impact of service dimensions/attributes on perceive services Convenience and customer satisfaction.

1.3      Purpose Of The Study

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the Influence of Service Convenience on Customer Satisfaction on Banking Industry. The specific objectives are as the follows:

1.        To examine the Decision Convenience and Customer Satisfaction on Banking Industry.

2.        To examine the Access Convenience and Customer Satisfaction on Banking Industry.

3.        To examine the Transaction Convenience and Customer Satisfaction on Banking Industry.

1.4   Research Questions

The following research questions have been formulated and will be answered at the completion of this work.

1.    To what extent does Decision Convenience affect Customer Satisfaction on Banking Industry?

2.    To what extent does Access Convenience affect Customer Satisfaction on Banking Industry?

3.    To what extent does Transaction Convenience affect Customer Satisfaction on Banking Industry?

1.5   Research Hypotheses

An attempt to make our final answers not to look like mere assumption the hypotheses of this study will be stated as follows:

Ho1:  There is no significant relationship between Decision convenience and WOM in Banking Industry.

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between Decision Convenience and Sales Growth in Banking Industry.

Ho3: There is no significant relationship between Access Convenience and WOM in Banking Industry.

Ho4:  There is no significant relationship between Access Convenience and Sales Growth in Banking Industry.

Ho5: There is no significant relationship between Transaction Convenience and WOM in Banking Industry.

Ho6: There is no significant relationship between Transaction Convenience and Sales Growth in Banking Industry.

1.6   Significance of the Study

This research identifies the important quality dimensions to Nigerian Bank to enable the bank to develop strategies and improve the quality of service delivery. This will improve the competitive position of the Bank in the banking industry and ensure the survival of the bank, especially in an era of intense competition. Through measuring the level of customer satisfaction; Nigerian Bank can develop a customer-centric approach to deal with customer service, avoid the tendency of existing customers, and switch to a competing bank. Furthermore, the research will serve as a guide for Nigerian Bank to develop policies that will improve overall service delivery,particularly in areas where the gap between expectation and perception so wide to improve customer satisfaction. Nigeria Bank would provide comparative advantages to become the most preferred bank in the banking sector. In accordance with good services, banks and companies alike can benchmark Nigeria Bank policies and strategies for improving the quality of their programmer which leads to an overall increase in the banking sector and June translate to other sectors of the economy.

1.7 Scope of Study

The general scope of this study covers Service Convenience and Customer Satisfaction. The geographical scope is Rivers State of Nigeria.  The study will be limited to selected banks in Rivers State.

1.8   Definition of Terms

Customer Satisfaction: The degree of satisfaction provided by the goods or services of a company as measured by the number of repeat customers.

WOM: is defined as consumer to consumer communication about goods and services.

Sales growth: The increase in sales over a specific period of time, often but not necessarily annually.

Access Convenience: “consumers’ perceived time and effort expenditures to initiate service delivery.”

Transaction Convenience: “consumers’ perceived time and effort expenditures to effect a transaction.