Customer Satisfaction Cues To Support Market Segmentation and Explain Switching Behavior

In this paper, customer satisfaction cues in retail banking services in Greece to be positioned in view of existing literature but also to be are examined. The study proposes an instrument of customer satisfaction differentiated in order to be able to adapt to different business that contains service quality and such other attributes as price, conveenvironments. This reflects the position of Brown, Churchill, nience, and innovation. The proposed framework of customer satisfaction and Peter (1993). In this paper, customer satisfaction cues in was verified empirically yielding four distinct facets for business customers retail and banking services in Greece are examined. Therefore, and five for individual customers. The performance implications of the the conceptual part of the study is customized in the context customer satisfaction instrument are also explored. What is shown is that of financial services as organized within the Greek national customer segments, in fact, yield statistically different satisfaction scores, framework. which verifies the managerial value of customer segmentation practices. Apart from measurement issues, the real value of quality Finally, the facets of customer satisfaction as explanatory cues for the emanates from its decision-making implications. Service qualswitching behavior of individual and business customers were tested sucity can be used as a vehicle of strategic marketing as either cessfully. J BUSN RES 2000. 47.191–207.  1999 Elsevier Science Inc. offensive or defensive marketing policies. The offensive scenario closely resembles the long-standing connection between advertising and sales. There are compelling arguments in the literature advocating the superiority of defensive strategies The endeavor to establish service quality as a key compoover offensive ones for particular types of organizations (Rust nent of the managerial agenda has been successful, and Zahorik, 1993). Furthermore, the strategic marketing ori(Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1985; Reichheld entation of a service firm is mostly determined by the scale and Sasser, 1990). Research has given the business world of its operations, its intermediate goals, and life cycle of operamany instruments to assess the effect of service quality both tion. An instance where defensive marketing strategy seems on customers and service providers. The establishment of this to be more attractive is that of the National Bank of Greece issue in services management has called for new research (40% of total deposits across the Greek banking industry) in regarding the intended and unintended consequences of sercontrast to the strategy of the newer retail banks that began vice quality on the whole range of organizational behavior. operations in Greece 1991. Regardless of the specific tools and Latest research reports concentrate on the effect of service methods a firm adopts or what quality experts an organization quality on alternative performance dimensions of the organizafollows, managing for quality and competitive advantage has tion (see Greising, 1994; Rust, Zahonik, and Keiningham, the adoption of customer orientation as a prerequisite (Leng1995; Athanassopoulos, 1997). nick-Hall, 1996). The development of measurement instruments of service The present research seeks to contribute in several ways. quality and customer satisfaction and the subsequent research First, customer satisfaction has been adopted as the main dialogue regarding the appropriateness of these instruments dependent variable of the service encounter as opposed to is far from conclusive (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Parasuraman, the more restrictive service quality instrument applied in retail Zeithaml, and Berry, 1992). The strong effect of context and banking institutions. In effect, all aspects of customer– content of application, however, leaves little leverage for uniprovider conduct, including service quality, convenience, and versal measures of service quality and satisfaction. What repricing, were considered as distinct dimensions of customer mains therefore, is not only for any measurement instrument satisfaction. The frame of reference is the banking industry of the country as a whole and not a single service provider within the industry, as is usual in many research studies. Address correspondence to Antreas D. Athanassopoulos, 38 L. Ionias, 10446, Athens, Greece. Facets of customer satisfaction are also used in two perfor-