Service quality, service convenience, price and fairness, customer loyalty, and the mediating role of customer satisfaction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which service quality, perceived price and fairness and service convenience influence customer satisfaction and customer loyalty for Indian retail banking sector. It further explores the role of customer satisfaction as mediating variable between service quality dimensions, perceived price and fairness, service convenience dimensions and customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional research on 445 retail banking customers through questionnaire is conducted. Population of study is valued retail urban customers of banks in Rajasthan, India, who frequently visit bank premises for transactions, have accounts in at least two banks and have availed of at least one information technology-based services. Responses are analyzed using factor analyses and regression analyses. Findings – Results reveal that service quality dimensions, perceived price and fairness and service convenience dimensions have positive impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Moreover, customer satisfaction acts as mediating variable between its antecedents and customer loyalty. Research limitations/implications – This study has taken into account a specific category of retail banking customers. Thus, it limits generalization of results to other banking population. Practical implications – This study explains the importance of customer satisfaction for achieving customer loyalty for Indian retail banking sector. Originality/value – The paper underlines the importance of customer satisfaction for achieving customer loyalty. Impact of SERVCON dimensions on customer loyalty is found rare in literature.