Service Quality and WOM (Word-of-Mouth): A Study of the Indian Banking Sector

The Indian banking industry is going through turbulent times. In this era of mature and intense competitive pressures, it is imperative that banks maintain a loyal customer base. To achieve this objective and improve their market and profit positions, many retail banks are directing their strategies toward increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty through improved service quality. In the present context, characterised by rapid change and sophisticated customers, it is important that banks in India determine service quality factors, which are pertinent to the customers’ selection process, as well as the dimensionality of customer-perceived service quality. If service quality dimensions are identified, service managers can improve the delivery of customer perceived quality during the service process and have greater control over the outcome. The author suggests that customers distinguish four dimensions of service quality in the retail banking industry in India. These dimensions of customer-perceived service quality are customer-orientedness, competence, tangibles, and convenience. The results of this study offer strong support for the intuitive notion that improving service quality increases favourable behavioural intentions, namely WOM (Word-of-Mouth) communications.