The Effect of Service Quality Perceptions On Consumers’ Complaint Intentions: A Study in Banking Sector

Abstract

Increases in the share of national economies allocated to the the service sector, the diversification of services and the raising number of service businesses draw attention to the phenomenon of producing high-quality service. Besides, in today's competitive environment, it is essential to monitor and manage the customers’ complaint behaviors in order to turn them into loyal customers. In this context, this research has focused on determination of the bank customers’ service quality perceptions and whether they have an effect on their complaint intentions. Data came from a sample of 180 customers buying services from 15 banks operating in Istanbul's Gebze district as State-Owned Deposit Banks were used to test hypotheses. The results indicated that complaint behavior was mostly correlated with tangibles, responsiveness and assurance. It also revealed that complaint intention was independent from the demographics of the customers while service quality perceptions differed according to gender, age, income levels and education.