Towards achieving strong customer loyalty in the financial services industry

Abstract

This study intends to develop a better understanding of the practical matter of customer loyalty (CLOY) in the banking industry context. As such, this paper explores, in detail, the antecedent factors to building strong CLOY. More specifically the focus is on the constructs of customer care (CARE), product/service offerings appeal (PSOA), customer satisfaction (CSAT), and brand trust (TRUS). Design/methodology/approach: This wok relies purely on a positivist research paradigm. In doing so, structured questionnaires were administered to research subjects. For statistical processing, the PLS-SEM technique was deemed appropriate. Findings: The two biggest takeaways of this work are the findings about the indirect influence of PSOA and CARE on CLOY. This paper reveals the relations to be sequentially mediated by CSAT and TRUS. Besides, data support the mediating effect of CSAT on CARE-TRUS link, as well as the mediation of TRUS on CSAT-CLOY link. Other findings indicate PSOA and CARE are key determinants of CSAT, CARE is also a key determinant of TRUS. Research limitations/ implications: There are limits that come with the present analysis. One of the major limits is in the fact that it was conducted in a single country's setting, thus limiting the generalizability of the research findings. As a result, this research report merits to be adequately scrutinized in differing financial landscapes. Finally, the broader implication of this research is that the road toward achieving strong CLOY is far more complex than previously imagined.

The role of brand love on bank customers' perceptions of corporate social responsibility

“…However, we did not confirm the moderating role of respect on satisfaction and loyalty, brand love on CSR and trust, brand love on trust and satisfaction and finally, respect on trust and satisfaction. This study seems to make a theoretical contribution to filling the lacuna on the effect of lovemarks theory on CSR, trust, satisfaction and loyalty in the banking sector which are different from other studies that just examine the complex relationship among these overresearched construct which scholars (López-Miguens and Vázquez, 2017; Chang and Hung, 2018; Amegbe and Osakwe, 2018) have been calling for newer constructs to examine loyalty.…”

Building customer loyalty in retail banking: a serial-mediation approach

“…First, customer satisfaction leads to trust (Ndubisi et al , 2007). The nature of the financial services industry is such that trust is inevitable for ensuring the emergence of customer satisfaction and loyalty (Amegbe and Osakwe, 2018). Second, customer satisfaction leads to customer dialogue and, thereby, leads to customer loyalty (Hoang, 2019).…”

“…Furthermore, adopting a longitudinal research design can provide better insights into the casual nature of the relationships. In addition, exploring other possible mediators such trust and communication can help better explain loyalty behavior of retail banking customers, as trust and communication are considered to be vital predictors of loyalty (Ball et al , 2004; Amegbe and Osakwe, 2018). Moreover, a comparative analysis of customers belonging to different categories of retail banks (such as the public sector, private sector, and foreign banks) across all relationships investigated would be an interesting line of inquiry.…”

“…The models of customer loyalty, in the retail banking context, have used as antecedents of loyalty either the customer-focused variables that capture the cognition, affect, needs of customers or the service quality in banking operations. In their widely diverse conceptual frameworks on loyalty, prior research has used antecedents, such as customer satisfaction (Hoang, 2019), product service offerings/appeal, customer care (Amegbe and Osakwe, 2018), customer trust (Tabrani et al , 2018), competence, communication, commitment, conflict handling (Ndubisi et al , 2007), brand equity (Rambocas et al , 2018) and service quality (Makanyeza and Chikazhe, 2017; Boonlertvanich, 2019; Omoregie et al , 2019). An observation of the usage of these antecedents in earlier models of loyalty, in the retail banking context, gives rise to a few inferences.…”

Customer Loyalty and its Antecedents in Banking Service Rendering Context

“…Due to the ferocity of the market competitiveness, the results from customers' retention and loyalty are, among others, core objectives of relationship marketing, and the great challenge becomes to recognize and value customers, motivating the strengthening of the existing relations, surpassing the simple purchase repetition (Caruana & Ewing, 2010;Bennett, 2014). Although customers' loyalty has been widely investigated, especially in the service area, it is verified that the studies have approached different antecedents that lead to its construction, identifying gaps for the development of future researches around the subject (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2002), especially when there is a relationship between the business partners (Srivastava and Singh, 2013) and in the field of financial services (Lewis & Soureli, 2006;Amegbe & Osakwe, 2018), assuming that customers loyalty may be considered as a desired consequence of the relationship between business partners (Srivastava & Singh, 2013), in this case, a Bank and its customers.…”