A Comparative study of the perceptions of bank customers and bank management of the importance of retail commercial banking attributes

Abstract

The study reported in here,compared the perceptions of the bank management and bank customers about the importance of retail commercial banking attributes. The basic premlse of the study was that the success of any business would depend to a large degree on the extent to which the businesses management estimated the desires of their customers. The rationale for the study arose out of the fact that the commercial banks in Kenya have been loosing their market shares to the non-bank financial institutions. The study sampled from two types of populations whose perception were measured: the bank managers and the bank customers.Their perceptions were measured using the semantlc differential for all the sampled populations. calculated for comparison purposes.These proportions were further tested using Chi-square of hamogeneity and Spearmans' Rank Correlation for similarity of the perceptions. The findings were as follows: 1.The perceptions of the bank customers and bank management about the importance of particular attributes of retail commercial banking services are significantly different while their ranking of the attributes are similar. 2. The most common way the banks acquire new customers is through introductions by the existing customers. On the basis of these findings it was recommended that banks should improve on their service package provision and improve the relations they have with their customers.