Employees’ Perception of Service Quality in Addis Ababa Commercial Banks
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Date
2014-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This is an empirical research conducted with the objective of evaluating Addis Ababa
commercial banks employees' perception of service quality. Frontline employees are an
important component of the service production and delivery process, particularly in the banking
sector. Their technical and interactive service performance can be the basis of competitive
advantage for commercial banks. Therefore, the banks need to ensure their employees fully
understand the dimensions and factors that enable them to consistently deliver service quality.
Although the financial sector of Ethiopia is growing with the continuous increase of the number
of private banks as well as the opening of additional branches of existing banks, research
findings indicate that service quality is not consistently delivered. Deeper investigations of those
findings reveal that service quality dimensions associated with the performance of customer
contact employees are the source of the gap. This research was initiated to provide further
understanding of the problem from the perspective of employees’ perception of service quality.
Academic literature and research documents have been used to establish the conceptual
framework. As a result, workload, competence, service orientation, standard service behavior,
and service role flexibility are identified as the main factors that potentially influence employee’s
perception of service quality. To conduct the test and reach at acceptable deductions, a research
model developed by Vella, Goutnas and Walker (2007) has been adopted in the context of Addis
Ababa commercial banks service environment. The results of the study have indicated that
commercial banks employees feel their individual service performance can be affected by service
quality determinant factors. However, they do not associate the influence of those factors with
the ultimate delivery of quality service and customer satisfaction. Accordingly, based on those
findings, it has been concluded that the Addis Ababa banks employees’ perception of service
quality is not satisfactory. It is hence recommended that Addis Ababa commercial banks need to
revisit their recruitment, employee development and employee motivation strategies and align
them with the marketing strategy in order to promote system wide service orientation
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Keywords
Service quality, customer contact employees