An Evaluative Analysis of Service Quality Gap Using SERVQUAL: A Case of Private Bank in West Delhi

Abstract

Service sector is the most important contributor to the GDP of the developed economy. It is also dominating in the developing country in the era of globalization. The growing importance of service sector in Indian economy has been observed over the past decade. It is growing rapidly with the growth rate 11.18 per cent in 2007. The contribution of service in the GDP accounted 60.7 percent in 2006 which show the emergence and growth of service sector in agrarian country like India, and within service sector the contribution to bank in the GDP Growth is 2.5 per cent in 2008-09, which is likely to increase 7.7 per cent by 2010.Service being abstract in nature can be experienced through deeds and performance. Measuring service quality is difficult because of its subjective nature. The functional quality is usually the primary determinant of customer’s quality perception. The quality and satisfaction is directly related. In today’s increasingly competitive environment, quality service is critical to corporate success. It is assumed that private sector banks provide superior quality thus, this paper attempts to examine the main features of service quality, GAP model, analyse bank’s performance with respect to various service dimensions, how retail customer rates their service quality and to identify the areas where improvement is sought with the help of SERVQUAL analysis. The study is carried out by using the original SERVQUAL questionnaire (22 questions each for expectation and perception for five dimensions of service quality) developed by Parasuram et. al. Weighted average is calculated to accurately evaluate the GAP of various service dimensions as per the importance place by the customers. The methodology adopted is a convenient judgmental sampling with the sample size of 100 retail customers. The data is collected through structured scheduled and questionnaire, the sources are ATMs and bank customers from various areas of west Delhi.The study reveals that frontline employee are very important in service delivery and key to fullfill the expectation of the customer in terms of service quality.