How the personality of retail bank customers interferes with the relationship between service quality and loyalty

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to test how customers’ personality traits affect the importance of service quality in triggering customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was used to collect information from respondents about their attitude toward and experiences with their primary bank. The same survey was also used to explore respondents’ personality traits. AMOS 18 was used to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings – The findings, consistent with the literature, show that the overall quality of service affects customer loyalty. Services quality plays significant and more important role in triggering customer loyalty for customers that tend to be low on most of the five personality traits. For customers high on most of the personality traits, quality plays less of a role in triggering customer loyalty. Practical implications – This study demonstrates how bank managers could use their customers’ personality traits to offer the best services and, ultimately, foster stronger relationships. Originality/value – Very few papers speculated and non-tried to investigate the effect of customers’ personality traits on the quality-loyalty relationship within the context of retail banking. Thus, this paper fills this gap.