Internal marketing as a tool for increasing the perceived quality of banking services

Predmet istraživanja ovog rada jeste detaljna analiza svih instrumenata internog marketinga, odnosno direktnog, indirektnog i integrativnog, i načina implementacije strategije internog marketinga u bankama. Pri tome, akcenat je stavljen na svaki od instrumenata navedenih tipova internog marketinga i na njihov uticaj na satisfakciju zaposlenih. Takođe, utvrđeno je koje su dimenzije kvaliteta bankarskih usluga od najvećeg značaja za percepciju kvaliteta usluga od strane klijenata. Cilj istraživanja jeste utvrđivanje uticaja internog marketinga na zadovoljstvo zaposlenih u bankama i posredno na percipirani kvalitet bankarskih usluga. Opšta, kao i posebne hipoteze, jesu u funkciji navedenog cilja. Opšta hipoteza (H) glasi: Interni marketing direktno utiče na satisfakciju zaposlenih u bankama i indirektno preko satisfakcije zaposlenih na percipirani kvalitet bankarskih usluga od strane klijenata. Posebne hipoteze koje predstavljaju razradu navedene hipoteze glase: H1 – Svi instrumenti internog marketinga utiču na satisfakciju zaposlenih. H2 – Jačina uticaja pojedinih instrumenata internog marketinga na satisfakciju zaposlenih je različita. H3 – Percipirani kvalitet bankarskih usluga direktno zavisi od satisfakcije zaposlenih. H4 – Viši nivo satisfakcije zaposlenih vodi ka višem nivou percipiranog kvaliteta bankarskih usluga od strane klijenata. Shodno definisanom predmetu i cilju istraživanja, a u skladu sa istraživačkim hipotezama, definisane su metode istraživanja. U izradi disertacije korišćeno je više naučnih metoda uz pomoć kojih se došlo do relevantnih podataka i naučnih zaključaka, a u cilju što sveobuhvatnije i detaljnije analize teme istraživanja korišćene su sledeće metode: istorijski metod, induktivni i deduktivni metod, komparativni metod, analiza i sinteza, analiza sadržaja, metoda konkretizacije i apstrakcije i statistički metod. Takođe, kao primarni metod za istraživanje se izdvaja metoda anketiranja ispitanika, dok je instrument kojim se vršilo anketiranje upitnik. Istraživanje je sprovedeno u vremenskom periodu od 22. 9. do 25. 11. 2015. godine u dve banke, odnosno u osam filijala na teritoriji grada Beograda i Novog Sada. Zbog anonimnosti zagarantovane ispitanicima koji su učestvovali u istraživanju, a i na zahtev menadžmenta banaka, banke nisu imenovane, nego su u radu označene kao banka A i banka B. Istraživanjem su obuhvaćeni zaposleni u bankama, kao i klijenti istih filijala (pravna i fizička lica). U istraživanju je učestvovalo ukupno 1.125 klijenata obe banke, dok je broj zaposlenih koji su učestvovali u istraživanju obuhvatio 165 ispitanika. S obzirom na činjenicu da je istraživanjem obuhvaćeno dve grupe ispitanika (zaposleni i klijenti), u istraživanju su korišćena dva upitnika. Anketni upitnik za klijente je sastavljen prema SERVQUAL modelu. Preciznije, karakteristike percipiranog kvaliteta usluga izvorno su preuzete iz SERVQUAL modela, gde je skala očekivanja zamenjena skalom važnosti. Sastoji se od četiri pitanja zatvorenog tipa koji se odnose na demografska obeležja ispitanika i od 22 tvrdnje. Poslednje, 23. pitanje postavljeno je sa svrhom da se sazna da li je klijent fizičko ili pravno lice. Upitnik za zaposlene se sastojao od tri dela, odnosno zaposleni su odgovarali na tri upitnika, s tim što je jedan identičan kao upitnik koji su popunjavali klijenti. Drugi deo upitnika koji su popunjavali zaposleni sastoji se od 63 tvrdnje kojima se nastojalo utvrditi kolika je percepcija internog marketinga od strane zaposlenih u bankama. Treći deo upitnika se sastoji od deset tvrdnji na osnovu kojih je procenjen nivo satisfakcije zaradom, saradnjom sa najbližim saradnicima, mogućnošću napredovanja u karijeri, saradnjom sa nadređenima i sadržajem posla. Prikazani rezultati u ovom istraživanju pružaju trenutni uvid u nivo satisfakcije zaposlenih u bankama, kao i uvid o uticaju instrumenata internog marketinga na njihovu satisfakciju i na percipirani kvalitet bankarskih usluga od strane klijenata, koji se ogleda kroz naučni i društveni doprinos. Naučni doprinos istraživanja ogleda se u potvrđivanju hipoteza u naučno utemeljenom istraživačkom procesu kojim je dokazano da svi instrumenti internog marketinga – adekvatne mere pribavljanja, selekcije, raspoređivanja, dizajniranja poslova, motivacije, razvoja karijere i obrazovnog programa; odgovarajuće liderstvo, komunikacija, informisanost i strategija; pozitivna organizaciona klima; negativna organizaciona klima i strah od otpuštanja; pozitivna organizaciona kultura u kojoj preovladava timskih duh i negativna organizaciona kultura – imaju uticaj na satisfakciju zaposlenih u bankama, s tim da je jačina uticaja pojedinih instrumenata različita. Osim toga, dokazano je da satisfakcija zaposlenih utiče na percepciju kvaliteta bankarskih usluga od strane klijenata. Naposletku, dokazano je da instrumenti internog marketinga direktno, ali i indirektno, preko satisfakcije zaposlenih, utiču na percipirani kavalitet bankarskih usluga. Društveni doprinos istraživanja ogleda se u potvrđivanju činjenice da banke koje imaju dobar interni marketing imaju ne samo zadovoljnije zaposlene, već i bolje percipiran kvalitet usluga od strane klijenata. To pak doprinosi većoj satisfakciji klijenata, lojalnosti klijenata i, posledično, profitabilnosti banke. Sama činjenica da je percipirani kvalitet bankarskih usluga od strane klijenata u velikoj meri povezan sa satisfakcijom zaposlenih navodi na zaključak da je neophodno unaprediti satisfakciju zaposlenih. U izvršenom istraživanju dokazano je da je unapređenje satisfakcije zaposlenih moguće kroz unapređivanje instrumenata internog marketinga, s obzirom na njihovu povezanost. Stoga adekvatan interni marketing omogućuje da banka stvori zadovoljne zaposlene koji će pružiti klijentima uslugu u skladu sa njihovim željama i očekivanjima. To pak omogućuje banci da stvara bazu zadovoljnih i lojalnih klijenata i da gradi sa njima uspešne dugoročne odnose, te posledično obezbeđuje dugoročno profitabilno poslovanje.Research subject of the dissertation is a detailed analysis of all internal marketing tools, as well as direct, indirect and integrative marketing, and ways of internal marketing strategy implementation, within banks. Emphasys shall be made on each of the tools of all mentioned types of internal marketing, as well as their impact on satisfaction levels of the employees. Also, it shall be determined which dimensions of the banking services quality are most significant for perception of quality of services by the clients. The aim of the research is to determine the influence of internal marketing to satisfaction of bank employees and therefore - towards perceived quality of banking services. General hypothesis (H) is: Internal marketing has a direct impact on satisfaction level of bank employees, and indirect impact (over the satisfaction of employees) on the perception of quality of banking services by the clients. Different hypothesis which represent the elaboration of the abovementioned hypothesis are: H1 - All of the internal marketing tools have impact on satisfaction levels of the employees. H2 - Strength of the impact of some of the tools of internal marketing on employees satisfaction is different. H3 - Perceived quality of banking services is directly dependant on the satisfaction of employees. Research methods are defined according to the subject and aim of the research, and research hypotheses. Several different scientific methods shall be used for this disertation, in order to help gather relevant data and facilitate scientific conclusions. Due to full and detailed analysis of the research subject, the following methods shall be used: historical, deductive, inductive, comparative, analysis and synthesis, subject analysis, concrete, abstract and statistical method. Also, a method of questionnaires shall be used as primary method, while the tool of questioning shall be the questionnaire itself. The research was done within the time period starting from 22nd of September until 25th of November of 2015. in two banks, in eight of their branches on the territory of Belgrade and Novi Sad. In order to maintain privacy and anonymity of the respondents who have participated in this research and upon request of the management of the bank, the banks shall not be named but rather marked as bank A and bank B. This research included employees at the banks as well as the clients of those banks (legal and natural persons). A total of 1125 clients of both banks and 165 employees have participated in this research as respondents. Having in mind that the research included two groups of respondents (employees and clients), two types of questionnaires were used. Questionnaire for clients was made according to the SERVQUAL model. More precise - perceived quality of service was taken from SERVQUAL model, where the expectation scale was changed by the importance scale. It consisted of four closed type questions which were related to demographic mark of the respondents and 22 statements. The last, 23rd question was made in order to determine whether the respondent is a legal or natural person. Questionnaire for employees consisted of three parts, or in other words - employees were giving answers to/filling in three questionnaires, out of which one was identical with the one given to the clients. The second part of the questionnaire answered by the employees consisted of 63 statements which were given in order to provide results of the level of perception employees in banks have regarding internal marketing. The third part of the questionnaire consisted of 10 statements based on which the level of salary satisfaction, cooperation with the closest coworkers, possibility of career advancement, cooperation with the senior staff members and workload/content were tested. The results shown in presented research give an instant insight into the level of satisfaction of bank employees, as well as the influence of internal marketing instruments onto their satisfaction, and to the percieved quality of banking services by clients – giving the scientific and social contribution. The scientific contribution is based upon confirmation of hypothesis in scientific research process by which has been proven that all the internal marketing tools – adequate measures of recruitment, selection, scheduling, work design, motivation, career development and educational programs; proper leadership, communication, informing and strategies; positive organizational climate; negative organizational climate and fear of geting fired; positive organizational culture where team spirit prevails and negative organizational culture – have influence onto the satisfaction of bank employees, with the fact that each tool is of different intensity. Besides that, it has been proven that the employees satisfaction affects the percieved quality of banking services by clients. At last, it has been proven that the internal marketing tools affect perceived quality of banking services directly, but also – indirectly, through satisfaction of employees. Social contribution of this research is reflected as confirmation of the fact that banks that have good internal marketing have not only satisfied employees, but also a better quality of service perceived by clients. This will however result in bigger customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and consequently – in the profitability of banks. Fact that the perceived quality of banking services by customers is largely associated with the satisfaction of employees, leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to improve the employees satisfaction. This research proves that the improvement of employees satisfaction can be done through improvement of internal marketing tools, regarding their connection. Therefore, adequate internal marketing enables bank to make satisfied employees who can offer service to clients according to their wishes and expectations. That makes bank able to form a base of satisfied and loyal clients, and also to build successful long term relations with them, and consequently – to enable long term profitable business