Review of Literature

Many scholars and service marketers have explored consumers cognitive and affective responses to the perception of service attributes in order to benefit by providing what consumers need in an effective and efficient manner. Consumer satisfaction (e.g. Cadott et al, 1987; Churchill & Surprenant, 1982; Fornell,1992; Oliver, 1997) and PSQ (e.g. Parasuraman et al, 1985, 1988; Rust & Oliver, 1994; Zeithaml et al, 1996) have been considered the primary intervening constructs in the area of service marketing because ultimately they lead to the development of consumer loyalty or re-patronization of a product or service. Consumer perception of service quality is a complex process. Therefore, multiple dimensions of service quality have been suggested (Brady & Cronin, 2001). One of the most popularmodels, SERVQUAL, used in service marketing, was developed by Parasuraman et al (1985, 1988). SERVQUAL is based on the perception gap between the received service quality and the expected service quality, and has been widely adopted for explaining consumer perception of service quality. Originally 10 dimensions of service quality were proposed (reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding the consumer, and tangibles). Later these were reduced to five (reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances and tangibles).
There is general agreement that the aforementioned constructs are important aspects of service quality, but many scholars have been skeptical about whether these dimensions are applicable when evaluating service quality in other service industries (Finn & Lamb, 1991; Cronin & Taylor, 1992). For example, Cronin & Taylor (1992) argued that the evaluation of service quality based on the expectation-performance gap derived from Parasuraman et al (1985, 1988) is insufficient because much of the empirical research supported performance-based measures of service quality. This has more explanatory power than measures that are based on the gap between expectation and performance (e.g. Babakus & Boller, 1992; Babakus & Mangold, 1992; Churchill & Surprenant 1982). In addition, Kang & James (2004) argued that SERVQUAL focuses more on the service delivery process than on other attributes of service, such as serviceencounter outcomes (i.e. technical dimensions). In other words, the SERVQUAL measurement does not adequately explain a technical attribute of service. Thus many scholars have argued that the components of SERVQUAL could not fully evaluate consumer perception of service quality in certain industries (Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Finn & Lamb, 1991). Grnroos (1984) suggested two attributes of service which have been identified as dimensions of service quality based on the conceptualization of service quality as between perceived service and expected service. As an extension of Grunions model, Rust & Oliver (1994) provided a three-component model explaining service quality through service product, service delivery and service environment, while Brady & Cronin (2001) suggested three service quality dimensions service outcome, consumer-employeeinteraction and service environment. The notion of service product/service outcome and service delivery/consumeremployee interaction is consistent with the idea of technical attribute and functional attribute derived from Grnroos model.

The interrelationships of variables defining the antecedents and also the consequences of customer satisfaction have been studies extensively since last 25 years ( Anderson and Sullivan 1993; Churchill and Superenanat 1982; Cronin and taylor 1992; Greg M. Lepak 1998; La Barbera and Mazursky 1983; La Tour and Peat 1979; Oliver and Bearden 1985; Oliver and De Sarbo 1988; Westerbrook 1981; Yi 1990).

Hypotheses of the Study Quality of service has emerged as one of the most important determinants of customer satisfaction and retention. The literature review indicated that high levels of profitability from current customers, and few lost customers are strategic goals which should be achieved by the bank management. Delivering high quality of service appears to be valued by customers. Hence, the following hypotheses investigate several aspects of the two constructs and the relationships between them: 1. The overall service quality provided by the State Bank of India and UCO Bank is low. 2. There are no significant differences between State Bank of India and UCO Bank banks regarding the overall quality of service provided. 3. There are no significant differences between State Bank of India and UCO Bank regarding the customers' perceived quality of service.

4. There are no significant differences between State Bank of India and UCO Bank regarding the customers expected quality of service.

Submitted by: Arpita Deb Submitted to: Sem: 4th Roll Singh Dr. H. Ramanandano: 23

INTRODUCTION
Every manufactured goods has service elements such as storage, marketing, distribution, insurance, customer support, and advertising. Every service has manufactured tangible elements: banks provide statements; airlines provide tickets; restaurants serve foods. There is no clear distinction, but there is a tangibility spectrum. Services usually have more intangible elements than manufactured goods. Other important defining characteristics of services are as follows: Inseparability. Production and consumption usually take place at the same time a haircut cannot be stored for future use. Variability. A restaurant can spoil us with a superb meal one day and disappoint us with mediocre fare a week later. Heterogeneity. Services range from simple to complex, from high-contact to low-contact, from fully customized to fully standardized, from personal to business services & so on. Due to the intangible nature of services & the variation of services offered to different customers, defining quality becomes even more complicated.

What is Quality? According to the definition given by the American Society for Quality Control, quality is The totality of features & characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. This definition is ideal from the point of view of marketers. The ability to satisfy stated or implied need is key criterion to differentiate good quality from poor quality. Another important characteristic noted in the definition is the totality of features & characteristics. Thus, every area of the product or service is considered crucial. For example; a high quality hospital service comprises not only the diagnostic, treatment & surgery but also the nursing, the hospital environment including hygienic ward maintenance, the quality of food supplied to the patients & accompanying relatives & the uniforms & dresses. Moments of Truth: From the customers point of view, the most vivid impression of service occurs in the service encounter or moment of truth, when the customer interacts with the service provider. For example, among the service encounters a hotel customer experiences are checking into the hotel, being taken to a room by a bell person, eating a restaurant meal, requesting a wake-up call & checking out. It is in these encounters that customers receive a snapshot of the organizations service quality & each encounter contributes to the customers overall satisfaction & willingness to do business with the organization again. From the organizations point of view, each encounter thus presents an opportunity to prove its potential as a quality service provider & to increase customer loyalty.

The Five Determinants of Service Quality: Reliability: The ability to perform the promised service both dependably & accurately. Reliable service performance is a customer expectation & means that the service is accomplished on time, in the same manner & without error every time. For example, receiving mail same time each day. Responsiveness: The willingness to help customers & to provide prompt service. Keeping customers waiting, particularly for no apparent reason, creates unnecessary negative perception of quality. If a service failure occurs, the ability to recover quickly & with professionalism can create very positive perception of quality. For example, serve complementary drinks on a delayed flight. Assurance: The knowledge & courtesy of employees as well as their ability to convey trust & confidence. For example, being polite and showing respect for customer. Empathy: The provision of caring & individualized attention to customers. For example, being approachable, good listener etc. Tangibility: The appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel & the communication materials. For example, cleanliness.

Perceived service Quality

Figure 1

Service Quality Gap Model:

Figure 2

The gaps model of service quality brings customer focus & service excellence together in a structured, practical way. The model focuses on strategies & processes that firms can employ to drive service excellence while maintaining a focus on customers. The central focus this model is the customer gap, the difference between customer expectations & perceptions. To close this all important customer gap, the model suggests that four other gaps - the provider gaps - need to be closed. The provider gaps are the underlying causes behind the customer gap: Gap 1 Not knowing what customers expect. Gap 2 Not selecting the right service designs & standards. Gap 3 Not delivering to service standards. Gap 4 Not matching performance to promise.

How to measure Service Quality? Generally organisations use a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods: Qualitative Methods: interviews focus groups, observation (including mystery shopping!). Quantitative Methods: surveys (questionnaires, customer comments cards), statistics (routine data collection).

Service attributes can also be analyzed using either rating scales or penalty/reward analysis. Focus Groups: A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members. Mystery shopping A qualitative tool of observation, mystery shopping has been growing increasingly popular in the service setting. The basic idea of this method is to look at the process (es) under scrutiny from the outside and measure their efficiency from a number of viewpoints: The checker. A specially trained employee of the company has the advantage of being familiar with the companys service standards. Airlines often use this type of analysis. The disadvantage of the use of checkers as mystery shoppers is the fact that they might be recognized as such, for they unconsciously act differently from average customers and may provoke the observer effect (When observed personnel deviate from their usual behavior and present themselves at their best). An additional danger is company blindness. This occurs if checkers are only able to account for the companys internal evaluation criteria, while they are either completely ignoring, or ignorant of, both standards of competition and customer expectations. The expert. Specially trained outsiders can often be found carrying out mystery shopping in the field of gastronomy. Their tests are very highly regarded by the general public, for experts are (or should be) familiar with standards of the competition as well as general industry standards. The main impediment to expert tests is the fact that experts do not necessarily belong to the customer segment the company focuses on, and may have different expectations than the average customer. The customer. Evaluators selected to play the role of customers normally fit the sociodemographic or psychographic group profile for the customer segment(s) on which the company focuses. Banks and insurance companies as well as food and clothes retailers often use this type of mystery shopping. The main disadvantage of this approach is customers lack of expertise. To offset it, companies usually organize preparatory training sessions. All three approaches to mystery shopping are widely used in the airline sector for internal and external benchmarking. All of them are highly subjective. However, the level of subjectivity can be reduced to a certain extent by using as many evaluators as possible. Dominos Pizza, a US-based pizza company, used 800 customer-inspectors for each of their outlets over a period of 2 months, and then compared the results of their observations. In this way, individual outliers leveled out and a more balanced picture emerged. Use of rating scales in analysis of attributes: SERVQUAL The most widely used and most carefully scrutinised rating scale is SERVQUAL (the name stands for SERVice QUALity). The model defines quality as the difference between customer perceptions and expectations with regard to quality of delivered service. Respondents are asked to answer two sets of questions dealing with the same

subject, one set at a general level (such as quality of service in financial institutions), and one for a company of interest (such as quality of service in bank XYZ). The first (general) set of questions are quality expectations (Ei ) and the second (specific) set are quality perceptions (Pi ). Respondents choose from a modified Likert scale which measures intensity of agreement or disagreement with any given statement. Response options range from strongly agree and lesser levels of agreement to neutral (neither agree nor disagree) and lesser levels of disagreement to strongly disagree. For each of the 22 items (service attributes), a quality judgment can then be computed according to the following formula: Perception(Pi) Expectation(Ei) = Quality(Qi) From the formula, the following can be implied: If expectations exceed perceptions, quality is poor. If perceptions exceed expectations, quality is excellent. If customers have low expectations which are met, quality exists. From the formula, the following can be implied: If expectations exceed perceptions, quality is poor. If perceptions exceed expectations, quality is excellent. If customers have low expectations which are met, quality exists. The SERVQUAL score (perceived service quality) is obtained by the following equation:

Penalty/Reward Method: Penalty/reward analysis, developed by Brandt (1987, 1988), is used for identification of service attributes whose (lack of) presence can either diminish or increase service value in the eyes of potential customers. Desirable attributes which are not part of a service cause customer dissatisfaction. The same can be stated for undesirable attributes which are part of a service. These are therefore labeled penalty factors. Reward factors, on the other hand, are those attributes which allow a provider to exceed customer expectations. Sometimes referred to as delighters, they account for higher perceived quality, and consequently also higher customer satisfaction.

To identify service attributes as either penalty or reward factors, penalty/reward contrast (PRC) analysis is applied. PRC analysis is nothing more than a multiple regression analysis based on the use of dummy variables. For each attribute, perceived quality is compared to quality expectations, and the net result of the comparison statistically linked to total customer satisfaction. In other words, should expectations exceed perceptions, the attribute under scrutiny causes an average decrease in total customer satisfaction, and vice versa. It is therefore possible to compensate the negative effects of penalty factors with positive effects of reward factors.

About Banking in India

Initially all the banks in India were private banks, which were founded in the pre-independence era to cater to the banking needs of the people. In 1921, three major banks i.e. Banks of Bengal, Bank of Bombay, and Bank of Madras, merged to form Imperial Bank of India. In 1935, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was established and it took over the central banking responsibilities from the Imperial Bank of India, transferring commercial banking functions completely to IBI. In 1955, after the declaration of first-five year plan, Imperial Bank of India was subsequently transformed into State Bank of India (SBI). In 1994, the Reserve Bank of India issued a policy of liberalization to license limited number of private banks, which came to be known as New Generation tech-savvy banks. Global Trust Bank was, thus, the first private bank after liberalization; it was later amalgamated with Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The research methodology followed for the proposed project work is being discussed under following heads:

Research type/design:- A Research Design specifies the

method and Procedure for conducting a particular study. A research design can be grouped in to three categories:Exploratory Research. An exploratory research focuses on the discovery of ideas and is generally based on secondary data. It is preliminary investigation, which does not have a rigid design. Descriptive Research. A Descriptive Research is undertaken when the Researcher wants to know certain characteristics of the certain group such

as age, sex, education level, income, occupation, satisfaction level etc. Descriptive studies are well studies and are well structured. Casual Research. A Casual Research is undertaken when the researcher is interested in knowing the cause and effect relationship between two or more variables. Such studies are based on reasoning along with well-tested lines. Regarding this project work, survey based exploratory research design is undertaken to fulfil the objectives of the study.

Sampling method:The sample was selected on the basis of stratified Random Sampling.

Sample size:The sample size is 100.

Methods of Data collection:Data is the foundation of all the research. Collection of data refers to a purposive gathering of information relevant to the subject matter of the study from the units under investigation. Its the raw material with which the researchers functions. Primary data were collected personally from the respondents through questionnaire. The respondent includes private and public employees, students, self-employed. The respondents have been asked to fill up the structured questionnaire containing 24 questions.

Questionnaire Design:

Data required for this study was collected from the sample by a structured questionnaire was designed. Customers perceived and expected SERVQUAL were measured by the SERVQUAL scales, as developed by Parasuraman et. al.,(1988). Initially, their perceptions of their banks' performance on (22) characteristics of the SERVQUAL provided by their banks were rated. They were asked to express their expectations on the (22) characteristics in the original SERVQUAL. The scales were made by presenting the statements through indepth interviews with focus groups consisting from customers selected from the State Bank of India and UCO Bank. In addition, a pilot study was conducted on a small representative sample, which also, randomly selected from the bank's customers. The (22) statements were attached with a 5-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).

Data Collection Period:

The data was collected in a period of 12 days from 5 th April to 20th April, 2011.

Response Rate:
110 questionnaires were distributed among the students. Out of that 110 questionnaire 100 questionnaires were gathered back and among those 110 questionnaires 10 of the questionnaires were not properly filled, hence they were rejected.

Analysis technique:
Dataset was analyzed by calculating mean, standard deviation and T-test to get the desired objective.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

General:1. The information within a limited time that created a problem of doing things as par the required rigors. 2. Sample Size is limited.
3.

Geographical limitation because the study has been conducted only in the Silchar.

4. This study is based on sell-report perceptions of the customers. 5. Data collected by this approachmay or may not be an accurate to that extent which reflects the respondents real feelings.

Questionnaire:1

Respondents misunderstanding makes the data unreliable.

about

the

questions

Non- response of the respondent while answering the question in the form of non selection of a choice makes data set incomplete. Multiple selection of answers from among the given set of choices leads to ambiguity.

4 This research is based on perception and attitude of students self, which obviously invites the constraints like willingness, perceptiveness of the respondents that may affect on the results.