1 Understanding Bank Service Quality in Customers ’ Terms: An Exploratory Analysis of Top-Of-Mind Definition

The financial services industry has gone through significant changes and become globally competitive over the years. In coping with competition, practitioners often sought to identify service quality that mattered to the customers in order to satisfy bank customers. In measurement of bank service quality, most studies have utilized the generic service quality attributes of the popular SERVQUAL model. The SERVQUAL service quality dimensions provide the benefit of reliability in identifying general service dimensions of importance. On the other hand, the generic service quality dimensions may be limited in offering practical insights that are specific to the context. The study findings suggest that an unaided measurement of top-of-mind perception can identify a set of service quality attributes that may be useful in formulating an institution’s service improvement strategy in a specific context. This paper reports on an exploratory study that investigated the unaided top-of mind definition of bank service quality using content analysis of study individuals ’ free expressions of quality service of a bank. The analysis identified the three most important criteria: bank personnel; speed of service; and convenience. The results indicate that the unaided, top of mind expression of respondents can identify the important service criteria in specific as well as general terms. The specific terms may offer valuable insights for practitioners in formulating institution and context specific service improvement strategies. Managerial implications of the study findings are discussed