Summary

In the modern customer centric competitive arena, satisfaction, quality and loyalty prove to be key factors reciprocally interrelated in a causal, cyclical relationship. The higher the (perceived) service quality, the more satisfied and loyal are the customers. In particular, financial institutions (i.e. banks) realised the strategic importance of customer value and seem to be continuously seeking innovative ways to enhance customer relationships. In fact, as the offers of many financial services are very similar and slightly differentiable, loyal customers have a huge value, since they are likely to spend and buy more, spread positive word-of-mouth, resist competitors ’ offers, wait for a product to become available and recommend the service provider to other potential customers. This paper focuses on those dimensions that were reported in the marketing literature. The major contribution of this paper lies in the simultaneous consideration of the perceptions of both financial service providers and their clients to construct a model for the management of long term marketing relationships, in which social bonds play a very important role, especially in the area considered. Firstly, the paper will try to investigate which dimensions are important in customer relationship with the banks. Then, the paper tries to study the effect of social network in establishing long lasting relationships, that will minimise the customers’ switching costs, according to the perceptions of both relationship bankers and their clients