Impact of Participative Service Relationships on Quality, Satisfaction and Retention: An Exploratory Study
Section snippets
Modeling the Effects of Participation in the Service Relationship
This section discusses the concept of participation in service relationships and explores its impact on the quality of service provided, overall satisfaction, and customer retention. Although it can be argued that all service encounters constitute a relationship in some form or another, it is clear that there is considerable variation in the form that these relationships take, with some requiring considerable closeness and involvement; whereas, others, by their nature, are more distant and
Customer Relationships in the UK Banking Sector
Before any specific analysis of customer participation in service relationships, it is desirable to examine the context in which those relationships develop. The UK banking sector is dominated by a small number of large banks providing retail and corporate services, both nationally and internationally. From the perspective of the banks, the small business segment is arguably of particular importance because of the profit and revenue opportunities it presents (Bannock and Doran, 1991). The value
Data Collection and Measurement
Data for the empirical analysis were obtained from a membership survey conducted by the Forum of Private Business (FPB) in January/February 1996. (The Forum of Private Business is a UK-based organization that seeks to represent and promote the interests of smaller businesses. It currently has around 20,000 members.) This is a biennial survey that provides one of the most comprehensive sets of data relating to the bank–small business relationship in the UK. Approximately 14,000 questionnaires
Empirical Analysis
The relationships outlined in Figure 1 were estimated using a series of multiple regression equations. In general, inspection of the residuals suggested that there were no substantive problems with non-normality and heteroscedasticity, and the relatively low variance inflation factors suggested that the impact of multicollinearity was limited. The first five equations presented in Table 3 seek to explain the different dimensions of participation as a function of the institutional atmosphere of
Conclusion
Participation in service relationships is held to be of particular importance for continuously produced services in which credence qualities play an important role in customer evaluation. Financial services in general and banking in particular would fall into this category. An empirical analysis of participation in the relationship between banks and small businesses has focused on dimensions of participative behavior by both parties to the relationship. Different dimensions of participation
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Forum of Private Business (FPB) for the provision of the database and four anonymous JBR referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft.
References (47)
- et al.
An Empirical Assessment of the SERVQUAL Scale
Journal of Business Research
(1992) Relationship Approach to Marketing in Service ContextsThe Marketing and Organizational Behavior Interface
Journal of Business Research
(1990)- et al.
Customer Satisfaction, Customer Retention, and Market Share
Journal of Retailing
(1993) - et al.
A Customer Satisfaction Research Prospectus
- et al.
The Effects of Consumership on Financial SatisfactionAre Good Consumers More Satisfied?
Developments in Marketing Science
(1994) - Anderson, E. W., and Sullivan, M. W.: Customer Satisfaction and Retention Across Firms. Presentation at the TIMS...
- et al.
Business Banking in the 1990sA New Era of Competition
(1991) Close to the Customer But Is It Really a Relationship?
Journal of Marketing Management
(1994)Relationship Marketing
Relationship Marketing of Services—Growing Interest, Emerging Perspectives
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
(1995)