Consumer perception of service quality at a selected bank in Cape Town

Abstract

Services like an action (collecting a bank card) or an activity (opening business account) which are offered by a bank to a consumer is evaluated to determine the quality that reflects consumers perception of specific dimensions of service namely; reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, tangibles. The purpose of the study was to understand bank performance regarding service provision based on the understanding of both service quality and consumer perception. This study identified service gap(s) to develop a service quality management framework that can be linked to competitiveness and marketing strategies in a banking environment. In this regard the SERVQUAL model was applied in a banking environment at a selected bank in Cape Town. This study employed a quantitative methodology to investigate the phenomena being investigated. This research was undertaken ethically in order to protect all participants as well as the integrity of the University. A survey method was used to collect quantitative data from 100 respondents from selected branches of a local bank in Cape Town. The questionnaires were administered to purposively selected respondents based on their banking profile such as personal and business banking consumers within the universal code of research ethics. Statistical Package for Social Software (SPSS 24.0) was used for data capturing and analysis. This study found a significant relationship between actual and perceived service provision. This paper suggests that a model that combines management theories and quality dimensions is used to obtain a better understanding of the quality of banking services in order to improve decision making that may impact strategic marketing and competitiveness.