Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction in United Bank of India: An Empirical Study

Abstract

In the new millennium, one of the important challenges faced by majority of banking organizations of any country which is following the principles of market economy is to come up to the expectations of the customers, be it on the front of fund based business or fee based business. Interestingly it has been an established fact that the customers’ expectations cannot be addressed to their full expectations and satisfaction by a bank unless due attention is given to improve the service quality of the bank. Probably, the biggest challenge of any public sector bank of India in the age of intensified competition is to retain the existing customers by delivering quality service to the maximum possible extent after understanding the ever changing priorities and aspirations of its customers. The opening up of the economy and ever changing business environment in general and the banking sector in particular virtually compelled public sector banks to give up their elephantine indifference to the aspirations and priorities of customers and United Bank of India is no exception to this. It is through improving the service quality, a bank attempts to satisfy its customers and compete with its competitors as well as develop its image in the minds of existing and potential customers. Keeping in mind the importance of service quality for enhancing the satisfaction of customers, it has been decided to study the impact of different service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction. The paper makes an attempt to assess the impact of service quality dimensions on satisfaction of customers of United Bank of India within Cachar district of Assam. Statistical tools namely, mean, standard deviation, Cronbach's Alpha, and Multiple regression technique have been applied for analysis and interpretation of data. The study concludes that reliability, tangibility and responsiveness dimensions of service quality have significant impact on satisfaction of bank customers.