Service Quality and Customer Loyalty in a Post-Crisis Context. Prediction-Oriented Modeling to Enhance the Particular Importance of a Social and Sustainable Approach

Diego Monferrer, José Ramón Segarra, Marta Estrada and Miguel Ángel Moliner
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Diego Monferrer: Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castellón, Spain
José Ramón Segarra: Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castellón, Spain
Marta Estrada: Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castellón, Spain
Miguel Ángel Moliner: Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castellón, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 18, 1-27

Abstract: Research into the influence of service quality on customer loyalty has typically focused on confirming isolated direct causal influences regarding particular dimensions of quality, usually undertaken in the context of positive, firm-customer relations. The present study extends analysis of these factors through a new lens. First, the study was undertaken in a market context following a crisis that has had far-reaching consequences for customers’ relational behaviors. We explore the case of the Spanish banking industry, a sector that accurately reflects these new relational conditions, including a rising demand for more socially responsible banking. Second, we propose a holistic model that combines the effects of four key factors associated with service quality (outcome, personnel, servicescape and social qualities). We also apply an innovative predictive methodological technique using partial least squares (PLS) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) that enables us not only to determine the direct causal effects among variables, but also to consider different scenarios in which to predict customer loyalty. The results highlight the role of outcome and social qualities. The novelty of the social qualities factor helps to underscore the importance of social, ethical and sustainable practices to customer loyalty, although personnel and servicescape qualities must also be present to improve the predictive capability of service quality on loyalty.

Keywords: service quality; loyalty; sustainability; banking; prediction-oriented modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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