Özet:

The proliferation of players in the Banking sector in Zambia has resulted in a number of innovations by banks in order to improve service quality delivery. This has provided customers with an opportunity to compare and choose a bank that ultimately provide services that satisfy them. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between service quality and the resultant customer satisfaction for both foreign and local banks in Zambia. The paper utilised a quantitative survey design and the five dimensions of service quality tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance were considered as variables for this study. There are 19 banks in Zambia but only 13 that are operational in Kitwe formed a sampling frame. A structured questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale was used to collect the data and 120 questionnaires were administered to 6 banks with only 108 returned for analysis. Result of the study shows that the mean expectations of the five dimensions of service quality are higher than the mean perception thereby indicating that in general customers of both local and foreign banks are not satisfied with the service being offered by the banks. A t-test on all the five dimensions of quality shows that there is a significant difference on four of the dimensions namely tangibility, reliability, responsiveness and assurance. Tangibility dimension shows that clients appreciate the overall outlook of foreign banks which are visually more appealing than for local banks. On assurance customers are impressed with the knowledge and courtesy of the foreign bank’s employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence when transacting, while responsiveness shows that foreign banks were more willing to provide prompt service than local banks and finally on reliability, customers of foreign banks are happier with the banks' ability to perform the promised service dependably than local banks. A test on empathy does not show any statistical difference between the two types of banks. These revelations are vital in pinpointing where both local and foreign banks need to improve service quality delivery amidst increasing competition in the sector. Key Words: Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, Foreign and Local Banks, Zambia.

Anahtar Kelimeler: