Antecedents and Consequences of Relationship Quality As Observed in the Banking Industry

• Published in: Xing Xiao Ping Lun Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 91
• Main Authors: Lin, Nan-Hong, Chen, Hui-Chuan, Wu, Hsin-Yi, Liao, Wan-Fen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: Sansia Academy of Taiwan Information Systems Research 01.04.2011
• Subjects: Banking industry; Customer relationship management; Customer retention; Customers; Studies; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1813-4483

To maintain the competitive advantage, financial institutions must keep creating high quality services, maintaining long-term mutually beneficial relationship with customers, and retaining customers through appropriate customer relationship management. Thus, establishing an integrated framework of relationship quality that can be applied to the banking industry helps the operators in simplifying the implementation process. While engaged in financial services, financial specialists in Taiwan's banking institutions need to cultivate long-term relationships with customers in order to push the business, a need that tallies with the background of this study. Thus, the regular customers engaged in financial activities in Taiwan's banks were taken as the research subjects. The local banks sampled in the study were employers of six EMBA students who helped carry out the survey. Of the 450 questionnaires returned, 315 were found valid. To understand the causal relationship among the variables, AMOS 7.0 was used for analysis based on Structural Equation Modelling. The results show that the interaction intensity, mutual disclosure, and cooperative intention of relationship selling behavior have positive effects on relationship quality. Service domain expertise as a salesperson's characteristic has a positive effect on relationship quality, but similarity does not. This study presumes that in terms of sales relationships similarity works only in the short term or a single transaction between salespersons and customers, not in long-term contexts, so the similarity between the two parties does not significantly affect relationship quality. Finally, relationship quality has a positive effect on customer retention as well. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]