Antecedents to perceived service quality: an exploratory study in the banking sector

Using empirical data derived from the Greek banking sector, the authors attempt to model the influence of bank-specific (market orientation) and customer-specific (comparison shopping, influence by word-of-mouth-communication and personal relations with banks’ employees) parameters on the customer’s perception of service quality. The latter is conceptualised and examined as a multidimensional concept comprising employee competence, the bank’s reliability, the innovativeness of the bank’s products, its pricing (value for money), the bank’s physical evidence and the convenience of the bank’s branch network. As the findings suggest, the various dimensions of the quality of service offered by a bank are not influenced by all the antecedents examined in this study. Moreover, the gravity of the influence that each of the examined parameters exercises on the customer’s perception of the various dimensions of quality was also found to vary considerably, with certain dimensions being more influenced by the same parameter than others. Based on these findings, the authors suggest specific implications for both the academia and practitioners in the banking industry.