A DIAGNOSTIC STUDY OF SERVICE QUALITY, CUSTOMER’S SATISFACTION & CUSTOMER’S LOYALTY IN SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL BANKS WITH REFERENCE TO BHANDARA DISTRICT

Abstract

The paper examines the three-way correlation between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the scheduled commercial banks in the Bhandara District of Maharashtra. Due to the increased competition and digitalization of the Indian banking industry, quality of services has become one of the most important strategic instruments of differentiation and retention of clients (Mishra, 2024; Rabbani et al., 2016). The study uses SERVQUAL model to assess the quality of services in five major dimensions which include tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy (Parasuraman et al., 1988).

The methodology design is descriptive, which gathers data on 400 customers of retail banking using stratified random sampling depending on the ownership of the bank (public or private) and location of a branch (urban, semi-urban, and rural). Two main hypotheses, which are tested during the study, are the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction () and the following impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty (Oliver, 2014).The empirical review based on simple linear regression indicates the quality of service as one of the basic predictors of customer experience in the regional setting of Bhandara. The results indicate that regularity of service delivery at such dimensions as transactional accuracy and competence of staff not only leads to satisfaction but also to developed long-term behavioral and attitudinal loyalty (Krishnamurthy et al., 2010; Lenka et al., 2009). The researchers arrive at the conclusion that in the case of banks that work in semi-urban and rural populations, the quality of the service maintained is vital to the customer lifetime value maximization and the preservation of a competitive edge in a highly dynamic financial environment (Ahmed et al., 2022; Ewusi et al., 2021).