INFLUENCE OF PERCEIVED CUSTOMER VALUE, EMPLOYEE SERVICE QUALITY, BANK IMAGE AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON GENERATION Y STUDENTS’ BANK LOYALTY

Year 2017, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 1 - 16, 01.06.2017

Ephrem Habtemichael Redda Marko Van Deventer

Abstract

Retail banks are increasingly focused on maintaining a loyal customer base. This
is because loyal customers translate into higher profits and increased market
share. The Generation Y cohort, which comprises the youth of today, is an
important current and future banking segment and its bank loyalty could have a
notable effect on the profitability of retail banks. Understanding the factors that
positively contribute towards this cohort’s bank loyalty will aid retail banks in
devising appropriate marketing strategies for effectively targeting this market and
maintaining their loyalty. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine the
influence of perceived customer value, employee service quality, bank image and
customer satisfaction on Generation Y students’ bank loyalty in a South African
context. The study followed a descriptive research design and a quantitative
research approach. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data
from a convenience sample of 271 banking students registered at two public
university campuses in Gauteng, South Africa. The collected data were analysed
using descriptive statistics, reliability measures, correlation analysis and
multivariate regression analysis. The study’s findings suggest that South African
Generation Y students’ perceived customer value, bank image and customer
satisfaction has a statistically significant positive influence on their bank loyalty.
However, their perceived bank employee service quality has a positive yet nonsignificant
influence on their bank loyalty

Keywords

Generation Y students, customer value, employee service quality, bank image, customer satisfaction, bank loyalty, South Africa