Service fairness and customer behavioural intention

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between service fairness and behavioural intention and the moderating role of demographic variables among retail banking customers.Design/methodology/approach– A four-factor structure consisting of price, procedural, interaction and outcome fairness gleaned from the literature was adopted for the current study. This was used to survey 381 customers of 15 retail banks in Ghana. Exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression were used to analyse the hypothesized relationships among the factors.Findings– The paper found support for the existence of the four-factor structure of service fairness in the retail banking industry. The study also found that price, interaction, procedure and outcome fairness in order of importance significantly predict customer’s behavioural intention. In addition, age, education and income of customers were found to moderate the relationship between the dependent and independent variables.Practical implications– The focus of the study on Ghana and in the banking industry limits the generalizability of the findings. However, the four-factor structure identified could be replicated in other countries, thereby setting the stage for cross-country studies on service fairness in the retail banking industry.Originality/value– The paper extends the domain of the application of the four-factor structure of service fairness from restaurants to the retail banking industry. As such, it provides bank managers with a plausible framework on service fairness for managing relationship with customers in retail banks.