Measuring Service Quality using Servqual Model in Pakistan

International Journal of Financial Markets Vol. 1, No. 1, 2014, 1-7 Measuring Service Quality using Servqual Model in Pakistan Amer Sohail 1, Usman Rehman 2, Usman Ali 3, M. Azeem 4 Abstract The study intends to investigate the level of service quality in PCBs using the Servqual model in Pakistan. The Servqual model has been used due to its authenticity for measuring service quality gaps. By using factor analysis and data reduction methods the results of the study have been concluded. The results show that the service quality is an important factor of customer s satisfaction. The study has highlighted some important service quality gaps exist between service quality expectations and perceptions in provision of banking services in Pakistan. It has been observed that in Pakistan most of the gaps have been found in reliability, responsiveness and assurance. Because, most of the government and local bodies are still claiming about the customers rights protections which are weak in Pakistan and customers are not well protected and served. In the endeavor of consumer s right protection the state bank of Pakistan has taken some staggering movies to protect banking industry customers and enhance service quality. But the astonishing fact is that even with untiring efforts of state bank of Pakistan instead of increasing service quality in banking industry the level of customer s satisfaction is decreasing with the passage of time. The concern authorities should have eye on these issues and take some immediate remedial and surviving measures. Key Words: Customer Satisfaction, Servqual, Expectation, Perception and Commercial Banks. 1. Introduction Quality is the meaning of accuracy and perfection (Al-Dararkah, 2002). Extensive researches have been done in this endeavor to clarify the concept but still there is some vagueness (Awan, et al, 2008). Actually the issue of service quality gets the flame in 1980s and substantial new horizons remain wide open (Reevas & Ednar, 1994).Service Quality is an approach which is used to manage the businesses processes for the satisfaction of the customers. But it has been observed that the service quality do not bother much in developing because most of the time the business remain secure by having monopolistic positions. So, the study intends to investigate the level of service quality which customers perceive in banks that ultimately effects customers satisfaction. Moreover, the study deems to analyze the actual or perceived service quality gaps between customers expectations and perceptions with the help of SERVQUAL model. Service quality is a very important factor that plays a significant role in defining customers satisfaction (La & Kandampully, 2004).In order to make organizations productivity and prosperous the element of service quality is very important (Powell, 1995). With the passage of time different models have been evolved to measure the service quality and ultimately customer s satisfaction but the most authenticated model is SERVQUAL model which has produced valid results over the time. Parasuraman et al., (1988) have proposed the model containing ten dimensions of Service quality namely; Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy, Assurance, Tangibles, Credibility, Security, Competence, Communication and Courtesy. Service quality depends on perception and expectation of customer about service. The topic is getting importance because the share of service sector in developing countries is increasing with the passage of time (Islam & 1 Assistant Professor Department of Management Sciences University of Sargodha, Gujranwala Campus 2 University of Sargodha, Gujranwala Campus 3 University of Sargodha, Gujranwala Campus 4 University of Sargodha, Gujranwala Campus 2014 Research Academy of Social Sciences http://www.rassweb.com 1

A. Sohail et al. Ahmad, 2005). Normally, Customers considered satisfied when the provided service quality is better than the perception of customer (Parasuraman et Al., 1985 Zeithaml et. Al., 1990). The success of any business depends on delivering the best service quality to customers as compare to others (Ravichandran et al. 2010). Banks play an important role in our economy because they are providing the monetary services facilities in our country. The banking sector in Pakistan is growing with the passage of time because they are providing the services for customers through new financial products in Pakistan s financial markets. In last ten years, most banks which are operating in Pakistan, have tried to increase their market share because they were operating in highly competitive market. In the race of owing maximum market share banks are facing à serious service quality challenges and trying to provide best quality services to customers. Initially, banks were not bothering about service quality which have tarnished their name and resultantly squeeze the market share but with the passage of time banks have rapidly considered this increase and come up with the new ideas to provide the best service quality for customer s satisfaction. They have realized that in order to make true value for customers by introducing customer s driven services in the Pakistan s market for a longer survival. Banks could compete with rivals in financial products, offering flexible timings, low credit interest rate and high deposit return but offering quality customer services is the competitive advantage to those banks which offer best quality services because now customers are well known about their rights and everyone wants to be provided with best services by their banks. So, the purpose of this study is to measure the service quality in banking sector and moreover to know what is the difference between customer s expectation and perception about service quality of banking services provided by banks in Pakistan. The study is trying to probe what are the factors which create the gap between customer s expectation and perception about service quality and also to check the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction of private commercial banks in Gujranwala, Pakistan.The rest of the paper has been organized in following sections like literature review, methodology, findings and conclusion. 2. Literature Review Crosby (1981) defined Quality as a strongest with permanent specifications and he also agrees with Karim's definition (1996), who defined Quality, as anything that is related with the characteristics of the product to meet customer s need. Service is the relationship between two parties one is provider and second one is receiver of that service (Kotler, 2003). According to Hakesver (2000) service is a set of economic activities which provide time, location form and psychological benefits to its user. However, according to Beer (2003) service is characteristics and properties which aim to satisfy customers through fulfilling their needs. If customer s expectations are higher than the bank s performance, then perception level of customer is lower than satisfaction and customers normally considered dissatisfied (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Lewis and Mitchell, 1990).The nature of banking sector demands higher level of customers satisfaction by providing effective and targeted services. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction. This study accepts and develops an instrument of service quality, and examines the relationship between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. A bunch of studies have used SERVQUAL model and proved to be a consistent and reliable scale to measure banking service quality and provide useful information to play in assessing and monitoring service quality in banks. Service quality is intangible and heterogeneous characteristic of product offered to its ultimate customer (Lim & Tang, 2000). SERVQUAL model is a combination of two words Service and Quality, and having five different dimensions measuring service like : Tangibility: The appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials. Reliability: The ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Responsiveness: The willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service. Assurance: The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. Empathy: The provision of caring, individualized attention to customer. There are two approaches to identify the service quality one is directional approach, a method which is linked with satisfaction but is not equal to it, and related with the customers' perceptions of the actual 2

International Journal of Financial Markets performance of service provided. In service quality, satisfaction is an intermediary factor between past perception of service quality and current perception. Another approach is Gap approach which is also called SERVQUAL model, this model depends upon customer expectation and perception of service level provided to them. The motives of conducting are as follow; there is tense competition between banking sector of Pakistan and banks are competing in order to enhance market share by retaining customers giving special facilities and ensuring customer satisfaction in Pakistan. Banks are giving their maximum but still customers are claiming about inferior quality services provided by banks. It is a vital fact that banking sector is the back bone of our economy and its development completely depends upon loyal customer banking relationship. But in this regard not any single scientific investigation has been made in local environment. Though, it is the pioneer study in Pakistan s context to measure service quality provided by local commercial banks. 3. Methodology The research is based upon quantitative methodology to measure service quality. The SERVQUAL approach of Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1994) has demonstrated for measuring service quality. The sample of the study was well awarded customers who have at least five years exposure with bank. Careful selection criteria has been selected to opt effective sample from population and only those unites have been selected who have at least five years exposure with bank and able to draw distinction between service qualities provided by different banks. The study have selected 120 sample unites for investigation in order to drive results. In order to measure service quality of PCBs in this study the SERVAQUAL model has been used (Parasuraman et al. 1985). The afro mentioned model has indentify the five different gaps regarding service quality provided by PCBs of Pakistan. Gap -1: Clients expectations and management of bank perceptions of consumer expectations. Gap -2: Management of bank perceptions of consumer expectations and service quality specifications of bank actually set. Gap -3: Service quality specifications of bank and actual service delivery by bank. Gap -4: Actual service delivery by bank and external communications about service. Gap -5: The final gap is the result of the four other gaps. When any of the mentioned gaps arise, the service gap will also appear because the real service will not satisfy the client s expectations. A measuring instrument has been developed to get the customers responses about service quality. SERVQUAL model mainly used for measuring service quality of service provided organization. In this research, the SERVQUAL model has been used due to its authenticity for measuring service quality gaps (Gronroos, 1982; Lewis and Booms, 1983). Caring and individualized attention that the firm provides to its customers are deemed relevant for customer satisfaction. In order to apply this model, 20 statements used to measure the performance across above mentioned five dimensions, and measured with five point likert scale measuring both customer expectations and perceptions as well. 4. Findings In this study, five different gaps have been identified between client expectation and management perception. All the determinants which have been used as service quality measure adopted form a Bangladesh study (Rahaman, Abdullah, & Rahman, 2011). All the aspects include; Up-to-date equipment and instrument facilities of bank, records accurately, on time service, customer security, and customer convenience. The results of factor analysis based on principal components analysis have been presented from table no 2 to five. Normally, factor analysis is being used for data reduction and structural detection. In this study our major concern with data reduction to find relevant dimensions the principal components method of extraction has been preferred to indicate a linear combination of variables that produce substantial variance. It is then to identify other components which produce remaining variance and is uncorrelated with the previous component. Normally, few components produce substantial variance and replace these 3

A. Sohail et al. components with others. First of all it is necessary to check either data is suitable for factor analysis or not two tests have applied like; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test and Bartlett's test of sphericity. The results of these tests have been displayed in table no 04. Bartlett's test of sphericity tests the hypothesis that our variables are suitable for factor analysis or not. The test statistics rejects the hypothesis and indicates that the data is suitable for factor analysis. Whereas, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test measures the Sampling Adequacy and test statistics near to one indicate that factor analysis is suitable on given data. The results of table no 5 indicate that there are the five components which produced major variance in underlying variable based on their respective eigenvalues. These factors cluster the aspects according to the subject of the questionnaire. So service quality of PCBs in Pakistan is not beyond the question of customer satisfaction. However the question remains the same up to what extent the level of quality of services that make the maximum gap between perceived services and expectations of services from banks. The results of mean difference indicate that responsiveness, and assurance are the main dimensions in measuring service quality gap. In Table no 01 (top five) and Table no 01 (bottom five) the importance (Expectations) and the satisfaction (Perception) are summarized on bases set by factor analysis and predefined dimensions suitable for measuring service quality provided by Banks in Pakistan. However, the lower bottom aspects. On the other hand, the bottom three aspects relate to assurance, one for responsiveness and another relate to tangible dimension. The results of mean difference as displayed in table no 01 and 02 indicate that there is the clear gap between expectations and perceptions of service quality provided by Pakistani banks. The gap is going to be wider particularly in top 5 items which indicate that the banks are not providing services according to customers expectations. Most of the gaps have been found in reliability and responsiveness items. Importantly, there are the negative gaps between the items which indicate the appropriate deals of services are not being provided to customers by banks. 5. Conclusion The study intends to measure the service quality in banking sector and moreover to know what is the difference between customer s expectation and perception about service quality of banking services provided by banks in Pakistan. The study is trying to probe what are the factors which create the gap between customer s expectation and perception about service quality and also to check the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction of private commercial banks in Gujranwala, Pakistan. The research has opened lots of new endeavors to probe on for investigating the pitfalls in provision of service quality in banking sector. The gap in service quality expectation and perception is going to be wider with the passage of time because services are not compliance with targeted customers preferences. PCBs may attempt to move itself by reshuffling its service delivery system to enhance the SERVQUAL items in the areas of service quality. The factors of SERVQUAL model like; service delivery, customer problems, safety, personal attention and timely responsiveness are the important concerns for the enhancement of service quality. It has been observed that in Pakistan most of the gaps have been found in reliability, responsiveness and assurance. Because, most of the government and local bodies are still claiming about the customers rights protections which are weak in Pakistan and customers are not well protected and served. In the endeavor of consumer s right protection the state bank of Pakistan has taken some staggering moves to protect banking industry customers and enhance service quality namely as; inauguration of evening banking, establishment of banking industry code, continual of banking services even in local holiday (Saturday) and establishment of consumer credit rating agency in Pakistan. But the astonishing fact is that even with untiring efforts of state bank of Pakistan instead of increasing service quality in banking industry the level of customer s satisfaction is decreasing with the passage of time. The concern authorities should have eye on these issues and take immediate remedial and surviving measures. 4

References International Journal of Financial Markets Beer, Michael, Why Total Quality Management Programs Do not Persist The role of Management Quality and Implication for Leading a TQM Transformation, Decision Science, Vol.34.,No.4, 2003, pp 624-642. Gronroos, C. (1982). Strategic Management and Marketing in the Service Sector. Swedish School of Economic and Business. Islam, N. & Ahmed, E. (2005), A Measurement of Customer Service Quality of Banks in Dhaka City of Bangladesh, South Asian Journal of Management Lewis, R., & Booms, B. (1093). The marketing aspects of service quality", in Berry. Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing, 99-107. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1985), A conceptual model of service quality and its implication, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, Fall, pp. 41-50. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1986), SERVQUAL: a multiple-item scale for measuring customer perceptions of service quality, Report No. 86-108, Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge, MA. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988), SERVQUAL: a multi-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of the service quality", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 12 Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1991), "Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale ", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 67, pp. 420-450. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1993), "Research note: more on improving service quality measurement", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 140-147. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1994), "Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: implications for future research", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, pp. 111-124. Powell, T C (1995), "Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 16, pp. 15-37. Ravichandran, K. Prabhakaran, S. and Kumar, S.A. (2010), Application of Servqual Model on Measuring Service Quality: A Bayesian Approach, Enterprise Risk Management, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. E9 Sahney, S., Banwet, D.K., and Karunes, S. (2004), "A SERVQUAL and QFD approach to total quality education: A student perspective", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol.53, No.2, pp. 143-166. 5

A. Sohail et al. Appendix Table No: 01 Top Five Quality Dimensions S.N 1 2 Aspects of Quality services Bank should keep their records accurately Employees of your bank should be well dressed and appear neat. Mean Score out of 5 Perception Expectation 4.26 4.61 4.07 4.48 3 Bank should be dependable 3.97 4.36 4 5 The appearance of the physical facilities of the bank should be in keeping with the type of services provided. Bank s physical facilities should be visually appealing. 3.89 4.21 3.88 4.30 Table No: 02 Bottom Five Quality Dimensions S.N Mean Score out of 5 Aspects of Quality services Perception Expectation 1 Bank should have operating hours convenient to all 3.67 4.15 their customers. 2 Bankers should try know what your needs are. 3.68 4.21 3 When customers have problems, Bank should be sympathetic and reassuring. 4 Bank should arrange special care to special customers. 5 3.69 4.31 3.74 4.31 Banker should reply in any query of the customers. 3.70 4.34 Table No: 03 Total Variance Explained of Client Perceptions Compo nent Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Total % of Variance Cumulative % 1 8.304 41.522 41.522 2 1.974 9.870 51.392 3 1.243 6.213 57.604 4 1.164 5.821 63.426 5 1.003 5.017 68.443 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Table No: 04 KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy..905 Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 1317.736 df 190 Sig..000 6

International Journal of Financial Markets table No: 05 Component Matrix Component 1 2 3 4 Tangible.275.355.214.867 Reliability.238.857.223.348 Responsv.569.566.375.268 Assurance.870.234.302.252 Empathy.316.242.894.201 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations. Tangible Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy P E P E P E P E P E Mean 3.9150 4.2875 3.9400 4.4200 3.7900 4.3325 3.7800 4.3367 3.7225 4.1275 SD.73187.66891.72223.72725.90921.79777.94069.83618.85789.84946 Skewness -.630-1.423 -.417-1.655 -.689-1.620 -.765-1.663 -.870-1.298 Maximum 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Minimum 1.75 1.50 2.00 1.75 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.33 1.00 1.50 K-S Alpha.002.001.001.000.002 Mean -0.3725-0.48-0.5425-0.5567-0.405 SD 0.06296-0.000502 0.11144 0.10451 0.000843 Skewness 0.793 1.238 0.931 0.898 0.428 Maximum 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Minimum 0.25 0.25-0.5-0.33-0.5 Tangibility Figure No: 01Framework of the Study Reliability Responsiveness Service Quality H5 Customer Satisfaction Assurance 7 Empathy