Applications in Business Organizations

Abstract

Service quality can be seen as one of the main determinants of customer satisfaction, which in turn influences purchase intentions (Spreng and Mckoy, 1996; DeRuyter et al., 1997; Bloemer et al., 1998). This is of main interest, particularly in the banking sector, where the highly competitive market has caused the banking system to undergone drastic changes. Institutional changes, creation of extensive product/service portfolios, major changes in the ownership status, heavy use of modern technology and globalization of the banks activities are only some examples of these changes identified in the banking sector (Gortsos, 1998). Due to this heightened competition, bank service quality rises as an important factor that will affect the relevant market shares and profitability in the banking sector (Anderson et al., 1994; Hallowell, 1996; Caruana and Pitt, 1997).