Electronic – Banking and Customer Satisfaction in Greece. The Case of Piraeus Bank

Abstract

1.IntroductionThis study examines the level of customer satisfaction regarding e-banking services of Piraeus bank. A modified SERVQUAL method is used, a method commonly used for the evaluation of service quality. The study aims to investigate the relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.The need for this study arises from the significance of service quality and customer satisfaction for every company, including banks. Increased competition between banks means that service quality is increasingly important and that bank managers need to consider how they can improve customer satisfaction through service quality in order to enhance customer loyalty (Albarq, 2013). For a bank, the key to survive is to achieve high service quality and high customer satisfaction (Logothetis, 2005). Customer loyalty is important for any company because retaining customers means maintaining the viability of the company (Sachro, 2013).Despite the importance of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty there is still no consensus among researchers regarding the level of relationships or correlations among these attributes or dimensions. Also, although numerous researchers tried to determine and categorize the dimensions of customer satisfaction, there is still no commonly accepted model for evaluating service quality for e-banking services. These literature gaps are the major sources of motivation for this research.This research intends to find answers to the following questions:* If we use modified SERVQUAL model, what will be the level of service quality of Piraeus bank e-banking servicesl?* Is Piraeus bank e-banking services service quality performance correlated with their customer satisfaction performance?* Is Piraeus bank e-banking services customer satisfaction performance correlated with their customer loyalty?We hope to contribute to existing literature through this research by:* Identifying the dimensions of service quality, using SERVQUAL model, that have impacts on customer satisfaction in e-banking services.* Investigating and determining the relationships between service quality and customer satisfaction and between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.* Looking into the appropriateness of SERVQUAL model for evaluating quality of e-banking services.The article is structured as follows: section 2 provides a brief literature review. Section 3 reports the research methodology. Section 4 provides the empirical results and, finally, in section 5, we present final comments and provide recommendations for future research.Based on these research questions, the objectives of our research can be summarized and stated as follows:a. To examine the relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty regarding e-banking services.b. To identify and evaluate the service quality dimensions that impact customer satisfaction regarding Piraeus bank e-banking services using a modified SERVQUAL model.We believe that the findings from this research will be very helpful to bank managers in developing strategies for e-banking services and retain their customers..2.Literature review and conceptual framework2.1.Service Quality, Satisfaction and LoyaltyMost of the definitions of ervice quality focus on customer needs. According to Parasuraman et al. (1985), service quality stems from a comparison of what consumers feel service firms should offer (i.e. from their expectations) with their perceptions of the performance of firms providing the service. Service quality can be defined as client's opinion or estimation regarding the level of service quality (Zeithaml, 1988). Quality of a product/service is the characteristics of the product/service that cover or over cover customer expectations or satisfy certain standards (Kotler, 2000).The most popular model for evaluating service quality is SERVQUAL model, although it has been criticized by many researchers. …