Need assignment done

Impact of Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, Brand Image and other factors on Customer Loyalty in banking

Research Methodology

Sampling and Data Collection: The study would be based upon the population of Singapore, who are customers of various banks. The sampling customers would be heterogeneous, and which holds savings or current accounts. As the research is quantitative so quantitative data has been used in terms of questionnaires, and all the instruments in quantitative are well defined in prior researches. A multi-stage sampling design will be used. First, the list of banks such as HSBC, Citibank Singapore, Standard Charted Bank, will be chosen. The customer's file will be extracted from different banks. Then the study will involve the stratification sampling of the people based upon the age of the customer and the education level. After filtering a specific age group from 25-60 years old and based upon education level, random sampling will be applied to the list. The research involves many variables such as CSR, brand Image, service recovery, etc., which requires mature and educated people to handle those questions, so the people were filtered out accordingly. When particular people are random, sampling will be done. The sample size will be based upon the formula. (Park & Kim, 2019).

N= Z*Z*p*(1-p)/d*d

N= Sample Size,

Z= value based upon confidence level

P= population proportion

D= Margin of error (Normally 5%)

From the above formula, we find our sample size to be 200 respondents. As the study involves questionnaires that are lengthy and involves many variables, a 2$, as token money, will be shared with respondents on successful completion of the survey on time. When the questionnaire is ready, the survey monkey platform would be used to extract the data from the sample people. The survey monkey is already being by many researchers in the past researches in obtaining data from people to conduct hypothesis testing.

The data can also be collected based upon the telephonic conversation with the chosen sample people. The people would answer one to one based upon the questions being asked on the other end. This method is not convenient as compared to email, as questionnaires being lengthy, the sample people would not be interested in devoting all of the time in a single call. Apart from that, the researcher needs to ask for a convenient time from the sample people and plan accordingly. This process is time-consuming as the research needs to have at least 200 customers, and this telephonic survey would consume a lot of time. The same hurdles apply in the face to face data collection method.

Target Demographic Profile of Respondents (N=200)

Respondents Division	Details	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Gender	Male	100	50
	Female	100	50
Age	25-60	200	100
Nationality	Singaporean	100	50
	Non-Singaporean	100	50
Education	High School or Above	200	100

As we are dealing with banking customers, many ethical issues such as revealing the identity of the people, which also pose a security threat in the minds of respondents. This issue will be sorted out as the bank will not provide the exact name of their customers, but only the first two letters of their first and last name. With this, the identity of the customers will be in safe hands. The monkey survey has also been in the contract that after the research gets over, all the data would be destroyed at their end.

Many biases could arise from this research. Preferences such as inclusive bias, where samples are chosen for convenience. This bias has been removed as after filtering out the desired population; random sampling will be done on them to extract 200 respondents from the data. The monkey survey is an efficient platform that would help in reducing the procedural biases and response biases, as it would not pressurize the people in completing out the study during rush hours or peak time. Measurement bias that arises from the faulty scale will be removed from this study as the components of the instrument would be based upon the previous researches, which are well-published data and journals. The biases could not be removed completely, but with the steps mentioned above, it could be reduced to as low as possible.

Analysis of Data

The descriptive analysis will be used in this study, which includes the mean and standard deviations of the independent variable, dependent variables, and the mediating variables. To find a working relationship among various variables, each variable would be having a particular set of questions. This study consists of a total of 35 questions reflecting the different variables requirements and their relationship with each other. To analyze the data for this study, Cronbach's alpha values will be used to confirm whether the questionnaires and the variables used for checking customer loyalty is a reliable instrument or not. According to (Sekaran & Bougie, 2010), for inner consistency, these alpha values were regarded as acceptable because they were above the limit value 0.70. The reliability and internal compatibility of various variables such as tangibility, reliability, assurance, empathy, communication, satisfaction, responsiveness, service recovery, corporate social responsibility, brand image, and loyalty in the instrument will be tested based upon Cronbach's alpha values.

To increase the effectiveness of the questionnaire, the various items and scales of the surveys were modified and designed by multiple previous researches described in the literature review. 5 point Likert scale, reflecting 1 for strongly disagree, 2 for disagree, 3 for neutral, 4 for agree, and 5 for strongly agree, will be used to analyze the data provided by respondents. (Qasem & Alhakimi, 2019). The below questionnaire is designed to teach all the variables and their effect on customer loyalty. All the below elements in the form of variables and surveys were tested using Chronbach's alpha values and were found quite suitable. The reference for this instrument is available in Appendix-1, 2, 3. (Lau et al., 2013).

Sr No	Variable	Questionnaires and Variables for the respondents	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree
	A	Customer Loyalty
1		I will prioritize my bank when selecting the same type of banking service among banks
2		I will continue to choose my current bank's products or services
3		I agree that I am an HSBC's loyal customer
	B	Assurance
4		The bank can provide customers the services as promised
5		The bank can provide accurate service to customers.
6		The bank can honor their commitments.
	C	Empathy
7		Staffs are knowledgeable to solve customers' problems
8		Staffs have the enthusiasm to understand customer needs.
9		Staffs consider customer needs in the first place
	D	Reliability
10		Customers can feel a sense of security during the transaction process
11		Banking service can increase customers' confidence and trust in quality services
12		Staff can provide customers prompt and appropriate services
	E	Tangibility
13		The equipment of the bank is sufficient and visible for customers' usage
14		The bank facilities and designs make customers feel comfortable
15		Sufficient staffs are available to provide customers banking services
	F	Responsiveness
16		Staffs can provide customers precise personal services
17		Staffs can understand customers' needs
18		Staffs are helpful to customers
	G	Customer Satisfaction
19		I feel satisfied when using my Banking services
20		I am satisfied with the overall service quality of my bank
21		Overall, I have a good and positive impression on my bank
	H	Corporate Social Responsibility
22		This bank is socially responsible.
23		This bank protects the environment.
24		This bank contributes to the welfare of society
25		This bank contributes to the donation programs
	I	Brand Image
26		This bank has a good image in the mind of customers
27		This bank has a unique image
28		The hotel is conveniently located
29		I have a good impression of this hotel
	J	Service Recovery
30		The service failure is rectified in a given time
31		The service failure has been rectified with dignity
32		The explanation for the service failure has been explained clearly
33		The appropriate compensation has been provided on time

Summary of proposed Instrument

Variable	Source	No. of Items	Cronbach's alpha
Service Quality (5 variables)	(Mei et al., 2013)	15	> 0.80
Customer Satisfaction	(Mei et al., 2013)	3	> 0.80
Customer Loyalty	(Mei et al., 2013)	3	> 0.80
Corporate Social Responsibility	(Al-Ghamdi, & Badawi, 2019)	4	> 0.80
Service Recovery	(Liat, 2017)	4	> 0.80
Brand Image	(Liat, 2017)	4	> 0.80

Hypothesis Testing

H1o: There has been no positive impact of Service quality on customer satisfaction in the banking industry context

H2o: There has been no positive impact of Service quality on customer loyalty in the banking industry context

H3o: There has been no positive impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty in the banking industry context

H4o: Brand image does not have a mediating effect between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the banking industry context.

H5o: There has been no positive impact of Service recovery on customer satisfaction in the banking industry context

H6o: There has been no positive impact of CSR on customer satisfaction in the banking industry concept

H7o: There has been no positive impact of CSR on customer loyalty in the banking industry concept

Steps to do the hypothesis testing in general regression analyses

Step 1. The significance level alpha (α) will be set. As per various research mentioned in the literature review, many researchers have taken the significance level α to be 0.05, so this study would also take the same significance level.

Step 2. The p-value will be computed based upon various online software such as Gretl

Step 3. If p-value < alpha (α), the null hypothesis will be rejected, and the alternate hypothesis will be accepted.

If p-value > alpha (α), the null hypothesis will not be rejected, and the alternate hypothesis will be not be proved.

Bayesian approach will be used in this study to test the hypothesis, because in Bayesian approach apart from working on the model it has the history or previous worked out data based upon the model. Then the result of the new research can be added to the previous framework concept with new data.

Concerning the conceptual framework (Fig. 2), service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty will be analyzed by regression analyses. In that, the beta value (β) would be calculated as well, showing the relation between variables. Further, the p-value will be calculated using software and will be compared with the significance value (α= 0.05). The decision of whether to negate the null hypothesis H1o, and H3o will be based upon the comparison mention above in three steps. Apart from that, the R-square value of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty will be calculated in the regression model to show the strength of the relationship between them. The same process would be repeated in defining the direct link between independent variables such as service quality and service recovery on customer loyalty. The p-value would be calculated, and based upon the three testing steps mentioned, the decision on null hypothesis H2o, and H5o would be taken. The reference for this analysis has been shown in Appendix 4.

Further, the study would analyze the mediation effect of brand image on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. In-order to prove the mediation effect, the three conditions are to be met. First, customer satisfaction (Independent variable) should positively influence customer loyalty (dependent variable). Second, again customer satisfaction should positively impact the brand image (Mediating variable). Finally, the brand image (Mediating variable) should positively influence customer loyalty, which is the dependent variable. (Baron & Kenny, 1986). All of the three conditions for the mediation will be tested and verified based upon the beta (β) values and the corresponding p-value. Then the Sobel Test, a test used for intervention, will be applied to check the mediating effect of the variable on the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. As per the research conducted by (Cheng 2017), it was found that the brand image shows the positive mediation effect, with p-value < 0.05 (less than the significance value, α). So the same test will be considered, and the null hypothesis H4o will be negated if the p-value comes out to be less than 0.05. The reference for this analysis has been shown in Appendix 5.

Further, the regression analyses will be done to find out the effect of corporate social responsibility on customer satisfaction and on customer loyalty. The questionnaire instrument will be used and further analyzed to find out the beta (β) coefficients, standard errors, and relative p-value. The same steps for comparing the p-value with significance value (α) will be done. Based upon that, the decision on null hypothesis H6o and H7o will be taken whether to negate the null hypothesis and to conclude that the alternate suggestion i.e., CSR having a positive influence on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is correct, or there is no significant relationship between the variables are true. The research in this field has been conducted by (Park & Kim, 2019), and its hypothesis testing is shown in Appendix 6.

Research Time Table

Content	April (Week Wise)	May (Week Wise)	June (Week Wise)
	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4
Finding Research Topic-based upon the interest
Literature Review
Research Methodology
Data Sampling and Collection
Data Analysis
Hypothesis testing
Conclusion and recommendations

Research Budget

Sr. No.	Cost Description	Cost in USD
1	Questionnaire Filling form money to respondents	400
2	Monkey Survey Consultancy	500
3	Assistant Salary	500
4	Office Supplies	100
5	Banking Data extraction- Appointments with bank officials	200
6	Travelling Cost on Taxi	300
7	Miscellaneous	350
Total	2350

References

Charan, J., & Biswas, T. (2013). How to Calculate Sample Size for Different Study Designs in Medical Research? Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 35(2), 121–126. https://doi-org.ezproxy.myucwest.ca/10.4103/0253-7176.116232

Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2010). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach (5th ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Park, E., & Kim, K. J. (2019). What drives "customer loyalty"? The role of corporate social responsibility. Sustainable Development, 27(3), 304–311.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.myucwest.ca/10.1002/sd.1901

Appendix-1

Appendix-2

Showing the reliability of various components of the test instrument with Chronbach's alpha. (Liat, 2017)

Appendix 3.

Showing the reliability of various components of the test instrument with Chronbach's alpha.(Al-Ghamdi, & Badawi, 2019)

Appendix 4.

Appendix 5.

Appendix-6