Executive Summary The competition among the organizations is increasing continuously and there has been a rapid shift in the business process deliverance. Financial service firms are striving to improve their business processes by liaising with customers to survive and compete successfully. The literature has obstinately emphasized on the utmost importance of trust and loyalty to survive in the financial sector. This study aims to explore the role of customer knowledge management (CKM) and satisfaction as antecedents of customer trust in the retail banking sector. The causal relationships existing between CKM, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty are explored. The mediating role of customer trust in the knowledge–loyalty and satisfaction–loyalty relationships is also explored. The data has been collected randomly from 412 customers of a private bank through survey by questionnaire. The research instrument has been developed and purified through factor analysis (confirmatory factor analysis). Structural equation modelling (SEM) has been employed to examine the causal relationship and fitness of the proposed model. The findings of the study reveal that CKM and satisfaction positively impact customer trust, and customer trust has a significant impact on loyalty. Besides, trust partially mediates the effect of knowledge and satisfaction on loyalty. The findings of the study are valuable to managers and strategists in understanding customer need in order to formulate the relevant customer loyalty programmes. However, the study focused on retail banking sector and uses data from a single bank only. Future research may evaluate the generalizability of findings across other banks as well as other nationalities. The main contribution of this study is to the loyalty literature by empirically validating the identified antecedents and demonstrating their role in managing loyalty. Furthermore, the study provides some valuable insights into the relational exchanges between variables wherein some inferences are derived from results regarding trust and loyalty.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study undertaken to understand customer satisfaction and customer retention in business-to-consumer markets. The study investigates the effect of personnel capability and customer satisfaction on customer retention in the banking sector. The influence of the control variable (gender) on customer retention and mediating role of customer satisfaction has also been examined. Design/methodology/approach The study has used structural equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis across a sample of 409 bank customers of a private bank operating in Jammu and Kashmir state of India. Questionnaires were distributed and respondents were selected through a cluster sampling technique. Findings The empirical analysis through SEM has confirmed that personnel capability and customer satisfaction have a significant positive impact on customer retention. Customer satisfaction partially mediates the effect of personnel capability on customer retention. Moderation analysis was performed and established that gender moderates the effect of personnel capability on customer satisfaction. It was also found that gender has no effect on other relations. Furthermore, the study shows that personnel capability has a stronger impact on customer retention as compared to customer satisfaction. However, the relationship between personnel capability and customer satisfaction is significant. Research limitations/implications The study has been conducted on the customers of a private bank in India. Therefore, generalizations may be limited. As personnel capability is the predictor of satisfaction and retention, individuals with proper social and technical skills – in addition to other skills – should be hired for managing relationships with customers. Originality/value The study has added to the understanding of the relationship which exists among the following variables: gender, personnel capability, customer satisfaction and customer retention. These variables have not been studied together previously.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive integrated model which helps in explaining the impact of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) dimensions (complaint resolution, customer knowledge, customer empowerment and customer orientation) on customer loyalty and competitive advantage of a bank. The study also explores the mediating role of customer loyalty in the relationship between CRM and competitive advantage in retail banking. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a theoretical model which consists of four CRM dimensions and two exogenous variables. These have been used for establishing the hypotheses to analyze relationships between the variables constituting the CRM model. The data have been collected from 278 customers of a private bank. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The scale was developed and purified through factor analysis (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis). SEM was then used to examine the causal relationships and “model fit” of the proposed model. Findings – The results provide evidence that the four CRM dimensions have a positive effect on customer loyalty and competitive advantage of the bank. Among the CRM dimensions, customer knowledge is most influential of all the dimensions. Furthermore, customer loyalty acts as the mediator in the CRM model between CRM and competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications – Since, the study involved a single bank and therefore the results should be generalized cautiously. Only four CRM variables were included in the study; additional variables can be introduced in further studies involving different contexts. Practical implications – The study highlights and supports the need for mangers to devote additional resources toward developing a better CRM system. Therefore, mangers need to think beyond the technological aspects and should focus on these four dimensions, especially customer knowledge, to enhance the loyalty and competitiveness. Originality/value – The paper investigated hitherto unexplored relationships between customer-centric CRM dimensions instrumental in providing competitive advantage to a bank through mediational analysis. Thus, it contributes to the information on the implementation of CRM practices valuable for banking sector.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of destination image on satisfaction level and tourist loyalty toward the various tourist destinations in Jammu and Kashmir. The study, also, attempted to investigate the mediating role of satisfaction and moderating role of gender, past experience and tourist origin in the proposed model. Design/methodology/approach The study was carried out in the state of Jammu and Kashmir spread over three divisions, i.e., Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. The study employs questionnaire survey method for data collection. Purposive sampling was adopted for data collection and data analysis was carried out through exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling techniques. Findings The study has found that cognitive image, affective image and unique image are the significant dimensions of destination image, which in turn has a positive effect on satisfaction level and tourist loyalty. It was also found that destination image has both direct and indirect effect on tourist loyalty. Research limitations/implications The state of Jammu and Kashmir has been badly affected by ongoing political instability, which has caused huge losses to the tourism industry. The results of the study will be helpful to policymakers in designing various strategies and programs for maximizing tourist inflow and growth of tourism industry in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Practical implications Further, finding of the study will assist destination managers in understanding consumer behavior for promoting destination shopping activities. This will enhance tourist expenditure at destinations and thus provides direct benefits to the local economy. Originality/value Very little research has been conducted on moderating role of gender, past experience and tourist origin in the destination image and its association with satisfaction and tourist loyalty in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Managing destination image and quality of tourist experience are critical to induce favorable expectations of destination in the tourist’s mind.

In today’s highly competitive business environment enterprises are continuously striving to achieve a sustainable advantage. This sustainable advantage can be accomplished only when the enterprise is realizes a value-creating strategy, simultaneously not being implemented by any current or potential competitor(s) and when other firms are unable to replicate the benefits of this strategy. A very little literature is available that investigates the relationship among customer relationship management (CRM) capability variables and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). In this backdrop, the article tries to analyse the role of CRM capability towards the goal of SCA. It identifies three CRM capability factors, that is, service capability, personnel capability and customer orientation and examines their effect on SCA. Structural equation modelling (SEM) has been used on a sample of 204 respondents who were selected randomly from the population of bank employees. The data have been collected from the bank employees through a structured questionnaire. The findings of the study reveal that CRM capability (having three domains—service capability, personnel capability and customer orientation) has a significantly positive impact on the SCA. This article contributes to the theory by examining CRM capability variables and tries to determine their impact on SCA in the banking sector, as CRM is now becoming strategically crucial in the banking industry.