Comparative Analysis of Service Experience Provided by Commercial Banks in Pakistan

Abstract

The primary aim of every industry / organization is to attain customer satisfaction. The reason why this attribute is of such paramount importance is because customer satisfaction is directly proportional to service experience which depicts that higher the quality of service experience provided, higher will be the level of satisfaction of the customer. The banking sector in Pakistan has taken giant steps with respect to growth and subsequent advancement in technology in the past decade and a half. From having presence of five to six premier commercial banks in Pakistan to more than 20 commercial banks operating in Pakistan at present. Indeed along with telecom sector, banking sector is the industry that has substantially grown during this tenor. Being primarily a service industry, banking sector in Pakistan has to proactively respond to rapid changes in technology and comply accordingly. If not, than high competition is now available within the country which has increased the bargaining power of buyers, this was not the case two decades back. The aim of the study is to highlight what commercial banks in Pakistan are doing to enhance their customer service experience which will ultimately enhance customer satisfaction. The study comprise of comparing three selected banks in the form of HBL, NBP and Bank Al Habib Limited through data gathered by a well-designed questionnaire which is adapted from an existing study. The questionnaire is adapted by using a SERVQUAL scale and data for the same is collected from 280 customers at branches of Habib Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan and Bank Al Habib Limited across various branches in Islamabad. The gathered data was analyzed by using smart PLS statistical software which helped to conduct Structural Equation Modeling. The results obtained support the study literature review and hypothesis and assures a positive relationship amongst the discussed variables. The study has been confined to only chosen commercial banks due to the limitation of time due to which other modes of banks operating in Pakistan such as Islamic Banking, Agriculture Banking, SME Banking, Micro Finance Banking and other commercial banks have not been taken into account as far as this study is concerned.