Factors influencing customer retention, satisfaction and loyalty in the South African banking industry

Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.Customer retention, loyalty and satisfaction are extremely important elements in any company’s strategy, especially in the highly competitive South African banking industry. Understanding the various factors that could influence these constructs is therefore critical to organizational success. Several studies showed the impact of these measures on profitability and shareholder value, but there has been little effort to access the factors that might lead to higher levels of retention, loyalty and satisfaction, especially in the banking industry. This paper examines the antecedents of customer retention, satisfaction and loyalty. These possible factors include: perceived value, perceived corporate image, perceived competitive advantage, perceived switching barriers, communication, knowledgeable employees, empowerment, personalisation, ethical behaviour, fees, relationship marketing, service quality (core and relational) as well as enabling service features. The results indicated that customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, switching barriers and communication had a significant impact on customer retention; customer loyalty, perceived value, perceived corporate image, retention, empowerment and relationship marketing had a significant impact on customer satisfaction; and customer satisfaction, switching barriers, perceived value, customer retention, fees, competitive advantage and relationship marketing had a significant impact on customer loyalty. It is evident that there is a close relation between satisfaction, retention and loyalty as all three influence each other in some way or another.Master