Perceived justice and customer loyalty in the retail banking sector in the UAE

Abstract

In this study, the impacts of the three dimensions of justice (distributive, interactional, and procedural) on customers’ post-complaint behaviour (ie exit vs loyalty) of both conventional and Islamic banks in the UAE were investigated. The results showed that interactional justice (eg courtesy) and distributive justice (eg refund) play predominant roles, since they impact both positive and negative emotions and the exit-loyalty behaviour of customers regardless of the type of bank (conventional or Islamic). The results show, however, that procedural justice (eg timeliness) has no impact on either negative or positive emotions and the exit-loyalty behaviour of either conventional bank customers or Islamic bank customers. The results were interpreted in terms of cultural context and in terms of managerial implications for conventional and Islamic banks that are mostly dealing with complaint handling and employee training. The limitations of this study are also discussed at the end.