Customer perceptions of service quality in retail financial institutions

Abstract

The SERVQUAL instrument, which measures customer perceptions of service quality, is applied to retail financial institutions in Brisbane. As in the original SERVQUAL study, five factors emerged: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Consumers’ experiences failed to match their expectations on virtually all dimensions. The study also found some differences in consumer perceptions of service quality based on age, gender and type of financial institution, suggesting that more could be done by financial institutions to segment their markets.