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Received October 2001 Revised July 2003 Accepted October 2003

Relationships between service quality and behavioral outcomes

A study of private bank customers in Germany
Ugur Yavas
East Tennesse State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA

Martin Benkenstein
Professor of Marketing, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany, and

Uwe Stuhldreier
Market Strategies and Target Group Management, Dresdner Bank AG, Frankfurt, Germany
Keywords Service quality assurance, Surveys, Germany, Correlation analysis, Behaviour Abstract This study examines the nature of relationships between service quality, background characteristics, and satisfaction and selected behavioral outcomes by using retail banking in Germany as its setting. Study results show that service quality is at the root of customer satisfaction and is linked to such behavioral outcomes as word of mouth, complaint, recommending and switching. However, different aspects of service quality and different consumer characteristics seem to be associated with different outcomes. For instance, the results suggest that tangible elements of service quality and being a female are more closely associated with positive word of mouth and commitment. On the other hand, timeliness aspects of service delivery are more closely related to customer satisfaction, and complaint and switching behaviors. Implications of these results to induce greater customer satisfaction, to attain higher levels of favorable outcomes and/or to alleviate negative outcomes are discussed.

The International Journal of Bank Marketing Vol. 22 No. 2, 2004 pp. 144-157 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0265-2323 DOI 10.1108/02652320410521737

Introduction During the past two decades or so, regulatory, structural and technological factors have signicantly changed the banking environment throughout the world (Angur et al., 1999). In a milieu which becomes increasingly competitive, service quality as a critical measure of organizational performance continues to compel the attention of banking institutions and remains at the forefront of services marketing literature and practice (Lassar et al., 2000; Yavas and Yasin, 2001). The interest is largely driven by the realization that high service quality results in customer satisfaction and loyalty, greater willingness to recommend
This research was supported by a Research Development Committee grant awarded to Dr Yavas by East Tennessee State University.

to someone else, reduction in complaints and improved customer retention rates (see, for example, Bitner, 1990; Danaher, 1997; Headley and Miller, 1993; Levesque and McDougall, 1996; Magi and Julander, 1996; Zeithaml et al., 1996). Undoubtedly owing to the belief that delivery of high service quality is a must for attaining customer satisfaction and a number of other desirable behavioral outcomes, recent years have witnessed a urry of research exploring interrelationships between service quality and, satisfaction and behavioral outcomes. This study expands the research stream into Germany. The specic objectives of the study are: . to determine the nature of relationships between service quality, and satisfaction and selected behavioral outcomes; . to ascertain which aspects of service quality have signicant impact on which outcomes and satisfaction; and . to uncover whether these relationships exhibit similar patterns between customers with different characteristics. A study addressing these issues is relevant and signicant for at least two reasons. First, while much is known about the relationships between service quality, satisfaction and behavioral outcomes as a result of research initially conducted in the USA and England and later in such other countries as India (Angur et al., 1999), United Arab Emirates (Jamal and Nasser, 2002), Greece (Athanassopoulos et al., 2001) and Turkey (Yavas et al., 1997), there is a paucity of research dealing with these issues in the context of Germany. Hence, this study partially lls in the void and adds to the compendium of knowledge in the area. Second, in todays ercely competitive German banking environment, where German bankers consider delivery of excellent service quality to customers a key to success and survival, the ndings from the study can provide them with valuable insights in ways of enhancing service quality to induce greater customer satisfaction and positive behavioral outcomes. In the next section, we briey describe the German banking scene and summarize the relevant literature. Background German banking scene Challenges coming from several fronts (e.g. structural, regulatory and customer-related) make the banking landscape in Germany more competitive than ever before (Betsch, 1995). Structurally, the German banking system is a universal banking system in that the banks offer a wide range of services ranging from retail banking to corporate banking to asset management (Olsson, 1996). The backbone of this universal banking system is the private banks (owned by private investors); savings banks (owned by communities and districts of federal states) and cooperative banks (owned by members). Although the private commercial banks, the savings banks and the credit

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cooperatives all have different busines priorities, there is no division of activities among them as such. Neither are there any signicant differences regarding their operations in the market place. However, unlike the private banks, the savings banks and the cooperative banks do not seek to maximize prots at least not formally but to achieve a reasonable surplus and provide support to their members. In retail banking, these banks collectively account for 90 percent of the market: private banks (15 percent); savings banks (51 percent) and cooperative banks (24 percent) (Bundesverband Deutscher Banken, 2000). Stiff competition to these banks comes not only from one another but also from special niche/direct banks which carry out their transaction with customers via telephone and/or online and offer high interest rates and low service fees to customers. Fueling competitive pressures on the universal banks are the regulatority changes. For instance, foreign banks can now enter the German market easily and compete aggressively with domestic banks. Also due to regulatory changes, such non-banking institutions as insurance and car companies are allowed to provide retail bank services that were hitherto within the domain of traditional universal banks. At a time when banks face ever-intensifying inter and intra competition, they too have to cope with the demands of discerning, well-informed, value-conscious customers (Szallies, 1998) expecting excellent service delivery from their banks. Until recently, universal banks tried to maintain their competitive standing via aggressive promotion and extensive branch networks. Bank managers we interviewed during the course of the study are keenly aware that in todays competitive milleu the traditional modus-operandi of focusing on extensive promotion and branch networking will not be sufcient. They now recognize the consumer revolution in retail banking (Salmony and Denck, 1999) and rmly believe that the success in the future will rest on delivering excellent service to customers. Relevant literature Service quality. Discussion of the indispensable role of service quality in retail banking and its measurement has been the focus of a number of studies. A canvassing of these writings shows that most of them measure service quality by replicating or adapting Parasuraman et al.s (1988) ve-dimension SERVQUAL model (see, for example, Angur et al., 1999; Athanassopoulos, 1997; Blanchard and Galloway, 1994; Lloyd-Walker and Cheung, 1998; Marshall and Smith, 1999; McDougall and Levesque, 1994; Newman and Cowling, 1996; Yavas et al., 1997). A smaller body of writings, however, presents new models or approaches to the measurement of service quality in banking. For instance, Mersha and Adlaka (1992) applied the Delphi technique to a sample of MBA students to generate attributes of poor and good service quality. They then converted the 12 attributes thus identied into scales and

analyzed students service quality perceptions. The authors concluded that the list of attributes they generated were similar to the ve dimensions of SERVQUAL. In another study, Avkiran (1994) developed a multi-dimensional instrument for measuring customer-perceived quality in retail branch banking. Using SERVQUAL as a starting point and then adding items that he extracted from a qualitative study commissioned to establish quality service standards, Avkiran (1994) followed an iterative process and identied staff conduct, credibility, communication and access to teller services as the nal dimensions of service quality. More recently, Aldlaigan and Buttle (2002), based on the technical and functional service quality schema proposed by Gronroos (1984), developed a new scale to measure service quality perceptions of retail bank customers. Their multi-stage, multi-phase and multi-sample study resulted in SYSTRA-SQ, which is comprised of service system quality, behavioral service quality, service transactional accuracy, and machine service quality. A conclusion that surfaces from a synthesis of the writings on measurement of service quality is that SERVQUAL . . . still is the most widely used instrument for measuring service quality (Angur et al., 1999, p. 121). Satisfaction and behavioral outcomes. Previous research in services acknowledges a strong positive correlation between service quality and satisfaction. However, the directionality of the relationship has been a source of much debate (Bahia et al., 2000). Some early works depicted service quality perceptions as an outcome of satisfaction (cf Bitner, 1990; Oliver, 1981; Parasuraman et al., 1988). Later works, however, have characterized service quality as an antecedent of satisfaction (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Drew and Bolton, 1991; Oliver, 1993; Parker and Mathews, 2001). There is now a convergence of opinion that service quality is a primarily cognitive construct while satisfaction is a complex concept with a healthy dose of both cognitive and affective components (Dabholkar, 1995) and that favorable service quality perceptions lead to improved satisfaction (Cronin et al., 2000). Research conducted specically in the context of nancial services is consonant with the extant thinking. For instance, Jamal and Nasser (2002) contend that core and relational dimensions of service quality are causal antecedents of customer satisfaction. In a similar vein Lassar et al. (2000) demonstrate that a technical/functional quality-based model of service quality is a reliable predictor of satisfaction. Still another study by Yavas et al. (1997) shows that servie quality is an antecedent of satisfaction. Previous studies in services suggest that service quality demonstrates positive relationships with a number of behavioral intentions either directly or through the mediating effect of satisfaction (Cronin et al., 2000). Research conducted in the domain of nancial services lends credence to this observatoin and shows that favorable perceptions of service quality lead to positive word-of-mouth, lessening of complaint tendencies and continuity in

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bank-customer relationships (e.g. Angur et al., 1999; Athanassopoulos et al., 2001; Caruana, 2002; Yavas et al., 1997). Study Previous research exploring relationships among service quality, satisfaction and behavioral outcomes has typicaly relied on survey method (e.g. Angur et al., 1999; Athanassopoulos et al., 2001; Caruana, 2002; Jamal and Nasser, 2002; Yavas et al., 1997). In this study, as well, the survey method was used. In the next subsection (method), we present the sample and measurement procedures of our survey. This is followed by the study results. We conclude with discussion of the implications of the results and suggestions for future research. Method Sample. Data for the study were collected through self-administrated questionnaires from the residents of Rostock, a city about 200,000 people located near the Baltic Sea. A total of 500 questionnaires were hand distributed to potential respondents satisfying the following condition; the respondent had to have an account with one of the private banks in the city and view that bank as his/her primary bank. If a respondent did not meet this condition during the initial screening, then members of the eld force sought an alternative respondent in the same neighborhood. After a two-week period, of the 500 questionnaires thus distributed, 226 usable ones were retrieved. Respondents had their main account in one of the following private banks in Rostock: Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Commerzbank and Vereins and Westbank. Over half of the respondents (56 percent) were female. The sample was comprised of well-educated respondents (57 percent had college degree or more). About 21 percent of the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 34, 16 percent between 25 and 34, 21 percent between 35 and 44, 24 percent between 45 and 54 and the rest were older than 54. More than one-half (55 percent) of the respondents were married and almost two-thirds (64 percent) held full time jobs. Our sample is younger and better educated compared with the general adult population in Rostock, but is representative of the account holders in private banks. Measurement of independent variables. The independent variables of the study were service quality and background characteristics. Service quality was operationalized via Parasuraman et al.s (1988) 22-item SERVQUAL instrument. Its use was based on two considerations. First, despite its critics, SERVQUAL is still the most widely used instrument. Second, its adoption can facilitate comparibility to other studies. In this study, in line with a procedure advocated by Brown et al. (1993) and Carman (1990), respondents were asked, on sevenpoint scales ranging from Much worse than I expected to Much better than I expected, to evaluate the performances of their bank. Brown et al.

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(1993) found this alternative method to have favorable psychometric properties and to be more efcient than the disconrmation procedure used in the original SERVQUAL which requires respondents to evaluate SERVQUAL items twice for expectation and performance. The background characteristics consisted of gender, age, education, marital status and employment status. During the analysis stage, each one of these variables was reduced to a binary (0/1) form. Measurement of dependent variables. The dependent variables included satisfaction and behavioral outcomes. Satisfaction was operationalized by a ve-item measure. These items related to the ve dimensions of SERVQUAL. After dening each dimension, respondents were asked to rate their level of satisfaction on that dimension on a ve-point scale ranging from very satised to very dissatised. For instance, to measure their satisfaction with their banks tangible elements, respondents were asked to indicate their satisfaction concerning the appearance of the banks physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials. A respondents overall satisfaction score was derived by linearly combining his/her scores on the ve dimensions. The internal consistency reliability of the overall satisfaction score (coefcient alpha 0:90) surpassed Nunnallys (1978) guidelines. Correlation of the overall score with a singleitem satisfaction measure obtained on a vepoint very dissatised-very satised scale proved to be signicant (r 0:83; p , 0:001) attesting to its convergent validity. Respondents complaint behavior was operationalized by a question relating to the frequency with which they complained about their banks service. Responses were recorded on a vepoint scale ranging from always to never. Besides complaint behavior, the study included several other outcome variables such as commitment, switching and positive word of mouth. On vepoint balanced scales ranging from very likely to very unlikely, respondents were asked to indicate the likelihood with which they would engage in each of these behaviors. A listing of the dependent and independent variables is provided in Table I.

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Results The relationships between the independent and the dependent variables were analyzed by canonical correlation analysis (Thompson, 1984). The technique is particularly appealing for this study as its objective is to summarize the complex multivariate relationships between two sets of variables (i.e. service quality items and background characteristics, and satisfaction and behavioral outcomes) in a smaller number of canonical variates (linear composites or combinations). The analysis derives successive pairs of linear functions of independent and dependent variables sets which are maximally correlated between the variable sets while mutually uncorrelated within the sets (Glorfeld and Fowler, 1988).

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Dependent variables BANSAT COMBAN OUT1 OUT2 OUT3 OUT4 OUT5 OUT6 OUT7 OUT8 Independent variables SQ1 SQ2 SQ3 SQ4 SQ5 SQ6 SQ7 SQ8 SQ9 SQ10 SQ11 SQ12 SQ13 SQ14 SQ15 SQ16 SQ17 SQ18 SQ19 SQ20 SQ21 SQ22 GENDER AGE EDUCATION MARITAL STATUS EMPLOYMENT

Overall satisfaction (12.0) Frequency of complaints (3.86) To continue to do business at this bank (1.96) Say positive things about this bank to other people (2.64) Recommend this bank to someone who seeks my advice (2.72) Encourage friends and relatives to do business with this bank 2.91) Consider this bank as my rst choice to buy banking services (2.86) Continue to do business with this bank even if it increases its fees (3.22) Switch to a competitor that offers more attractive rates (2.43) Switch to a competitor if I experience a problem with this banks service (2.25) Having modernlooking/uptodate equipment (4.24) Appearance of physical facilities (4.28) Appearance of employees (4.26) Visual appeal of the materials associated with the service (e.g. pamphlets) (4.16) Keeping promises to do something by a certain time (4.20) Interest shown in solving a problem (4.17) Performing the service right the rst time (4.21) Providing the services at the time promised (4.19) Accuracy of records (4.42) Telling customers exactly when services will be performed (4.16) Giving prompt service to customers (4.22) Willingness of employees to help customers (4.45) Responding to customer requests (4.43) Trustworthiness of employees (4.45) Safety in transactions (4.42) Politeness of employees (4.59) The knowledge of the personnel in answering customer questions (4.29) Individual attention I receive (4.37) Having convenient operating hours (3.60) Personal attention given to customers (4.33) Having the customers best interests at heart (4.08) Understanding the specic needs of the customers (4.13) Male/female 35 or older/younger than 35 College graduate/less than college graduate Married/not married Not employed/employed

Table I. Study variables

Note: Numbers in parentheses are mean values

Considering the criteria recommended by Hair et al. (1992) (i.e. statistical signicance of the function, the magnitude of the canonical correlations, and the redundancy index), in this study, two canonical functions were retained. Both functions were signicant at the 0.05 level of signicance. The canonical correlations between the dependent and independent variates of the rst and the second functions were 0.85 and 0.55, respectively. An inspection of the

redundancy indices showed that, in the two functions retained, about 44 and 14 percent of the variations in the measures comprising the dependent variable sets were explained by the independent variable sets. By using the canonical loadings, which measure the simple linear correlations between an original observed variable in the independent (or dependent) set and the sets canonical variate, as guides it can be seen that the rst dependent variate is characterized by satisfaction with bank services and such outcome measures as complaint and switching behaviors. On the other hand, commitment and positive word of mouth are at the root of the dependent variate of the second function (see Table II). A scrutiny of the loadings suggest that, in general, service quality items pertaining to responsiveness and reliability tend to have high loadings on the rst and tangibility and empathy on the second independent variate. An inspection of the loadings of the independent variables also reveal that education, employment and age are more closely associated with the rst independent variate. The second independent variate, on the other hand, depicted closer association with gender. Marital status did not load signicantly on either variate. Some insights into which of the 22 service quality items and ve background variables had the most inuence in relation to the dependent variates can be gained from the standardized canonical coefcients reported in Table III. These coefcients and the weights we calculated based on them suggest that keeping promises to do something by a certain time, telling customers when services will be performed, delivering the services at the promised time, interest shown in solving a problem and willingness to help customers have the most impact on the rst dependent variate (i.e. satisfaction, complaint and switching composite). The second dependent variate characterized by consumer commitment and positive word of mouth is more susceptible to inuence by such aspects of service quality as appearances of physical facilities, employees and materials and individual/personal attention given to customers. It is instructive to note that gender differences had some bearing on the second and education on the rst dependent variate. Otherwise, the background characteristics lacked the explanatory power of service quality items. Discussion At least two important inferences can be made from the study results. First, as demonstrated in prior research, service quality is at the root of consumers satisfaction and is linked to such behavioral outcomes as word of mouth, complaint, recommending and switching. Second, however, different aspects of service quality and different consumer characteristics seem to be associated with different outcomes. For instance, the results here suggest that being a female is more closely associated with such behavioral outcomes as positive word of mouth and commitment. This nding makes sense and conrms

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Dependent variables BANSAT OUT1 OUT2 OUT3 OUT4 OUT5 OUT6 OUT7 OUT8 COMBAN Independent variables SQ1 SQ2 SQ3 SQ4 SQ5 SQ6 SQ7 SQ8 SQ9 SQ10 SQ11 SQ12 SQ13 SQ14 SQ15 SQ16 SQ17 SQ18 SQ19 SQ20 SQ21 SQ22 GENDER AGE EDUCATION MARITAL STATUS EMPLOYMENT Canonical correlation

Function 1 2 0.957 0.115 2 0.040 0.213 0.005 2 0.508 2 0.176 0.522 0.417 0.626 0.702 0.142 2 0.251 0.344 0.685 0.715 0.586 0.531 0.582 0.560 0.574 0.804 0.767 0.753 2 0.114 2 0.032 0.804 0.769 0.555 0.118 0.200 0.838 0.054 2 0.264 0.218 2 0.022 2 0.121 0.85 2 2 0.011 2 0.701 0.712 2 0.753 2 0.727 2 0.191 2 0.551 0.053 2 0.065 2 0.481 2 0.059 0.639 0.772 0.556 2 0.095 2 0.096 2 0.017 0.105 0.096 0.074 0.129 0.059 2 0.145 2 0.053 0.468 0.766 0.107 2 0.043 0.052 0.774 0.847 0.107 0.230 2 0.070 2 0.074 0.000 0.001 0.55

152

Table II. Canonical loadings

extant theory that women prize interpersonal relationships and communications more so than men (Iacobucci and Ostrom, 1993), and are more likely to offer word of mouth recommendations (Belenky et al., 1986; Higie et al., 1987).

Function 1 Dependent variables BANSAT OUT1 OUT2 OUT3 OUT4 OUT5 OUT6 OUT7 OUT8 COMBAN Independent variables SQ1 SQ2 SQ3 SQ4 SQ5 SQ6 SQ7 SQ8 SQ9 SQ10 SQ11 SQ12 SQ13 SQ14 SQ15 SQ16 SQ17 SQ18 SQ19 SQ20 SQ21 SQ22 GENDER AGE EDUCATION MARITAL STATUS EMPLOYMENT 2 0.948 0.021 0.003 2 0.106 2 0.035 0.147 0.065 0.215 0.154 2 0.099 0.147 0.149 0.187 0.048 2 0.245 2 0.329 2 0.019 0.244 0.007 0.023 0.274 0.387 2 0.496 0.008 2 0.053 0.054 0.122 0.145 0.069 2 0.259 0.224 0.297 2 0.026 0.046 0.147 2 0.034 2 0.031 2 2 0.662 0.331 2 1.205 1.458 2 0.013 2 0.256 2 0.465 0.131 2 0.090 2 0.939 2 0.530 0.662 2 0.694 0.351 0.170 2 0.026 2 0.054 2 0.055 0.043 2 0.132 2 0.017 0.092 2 0.025 0.122 2 0.271 2 0.102 0.183 2 0.305 2 0.295 0.252 0.602 0.232 0.166 2 0.321 2 0.086 0.014 2 0.027

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Table III. Standardized canonical coefcients

Results of the study conjure up several actions that German banks can take to enhance service quality to induce greater customer satisfaction, to attain higher levels of favorable outcomes and/or to alleviate negative outcomes. For instance, the results suggest that improvements in tangible elements of service quality should lead to higher levels of commitment and positive word of mouth. Therefore, enhancements in such tangible elements as appearance of physical

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facilities and employees and improvements in ambient conditions and spatial layout are likely to pay dividends and lead to positive word of mouth and increased loyalty. On the other hand, timeliness aspects of service delivery are closely related to customers satisfaction and their complaint and switching behaviors. Currently, the German banks are investing signicant sums on new technologies (e.g. video-banking, internet-banking, telephone-banking) to enhance the timeliness of their services and ease the access of customers to their banks. This is commendable and should pay off. Yet, our experiences with German banks in the area show that down-times and other glitches in the use of these technologies are also common occurrences and lead to customer complaints and frustration. Therefore, German banks would be well-advised to minimize technical problems that would interfere with provision of timely services to customers. Additionally, the study ndings show that such human/interpersonal aspects of service quality as whether or not employees are interested in solving customers problems, whether they give individual/personal attention to customers and demonstrate willingness to help customers are closely related to satisfaction and behavioral outcomes. Bank managers in the area should take heed of this nding. Because our experiences with frontline bank employees in Rostock, which was part of the former East Germany, show that especially the older ones carry the vestiges/habits of yesteryear. Being brought up in a non-customer oriented environment (communist sellers markets) many are bureaucratic and arrogant in their dealings with customers. To remedy this, banks should make every conceivable effort to include interpersonal skills training in their overall training programs. In this context, training given to employees should focus on learning how to learn in a new banking environment where customer is the king. Such training should be designed to facilitate the whole change process including unfreezing (creating the motivation to change), changing (developing new attitudes and behaviors based on new information and cognitive redenition), and re-freezing (stabilizing the changes). Directions for future research Although this study expands our knowledge of the relationships between service quality and satisfaction and behavioral outcomes, viable prospects for further research remain. First, this study was conducted among private bank customers in one city. This may delimit generalizations. Replications among customers of different types of banks in Rostock as well as among private bank customers elsewhere in Germany would be illuminating. Second, the conceptual model investigated here is based on literature developed in non-German contexts. While the results reported here lend further credence to earlier ndings, previous research suggests that culture can moderate relationships between service quality and behavioral outcomes

(Yavas et al., 1997). Future international research would allow for greater generalization of the relationships tested. However, in such studies, culture must be explicitly modeled, the moderator hypothesis clearly stated, and the results compared across cultures.

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