Effects Of Relationship Marketing On Customer Loyalty

Globally,all of the service sectors aim to deliver a service that delighted a customer;however,it’s not that easy to achieve this objective.In today’s era,all of the service sectors’ including banking,are victims of a highly dramatic,complex,and competitive environment.Each bank is considered a small part of the banking sector.It has become gradually significant for the banks to build relationships with their potential customer and other stakeholders in the sector within which they operate.Like in other developing countries,banks operating in Ghana compete by delivering excellent services.Through this,banks provide loans to businesses and the government,but it ultimately influences the country’s economy.However,the competition among the firms is constantly increasing and there has been a dramatic shift in the business process deliverance.Financial service organizations are striving to improve their operations and processes by liaising with customers to compete and survive successfully.Building long-lasting customer relationships are the only way to give firms a competitive edge and lead them towards long-term growth and survival in the market.Therefore,this study aims to explore the effects of relationship marketing underpinnings(i.e.,trust,commitment,conflict handling,empathy,and service quality)on customer loyalty of GCB BANK LTD.This study used a quantitative research method to test the conceptual framework.A closedended questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert scale was administered and disseminated through an online web-based survey to gather data from GCB BANK LTD customers.The data collection process was completed in 6-months.For the description of the study,this study used Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences(SPSS)and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling(PLS-SEM)using Smart PLS 3.0(v3.3.3)were deployed.The first objective of the study was to the overall influence of relationship marketing on customer loyalty.The results of the study evidenced that relationship marketing is responsible for67.6% of changes in customer loyalty.The second objective of the study was to identify each dimension’s influence on customer loyalty.The findings from the study exhibited that all of the used dimensions(i.e.,conflict handling,empathy,service,quality,trust,and commitment has a positive influence on customer loyalty.Furthermore,this study also evidenced the trust–commitment relationship.The final objective of the study was to determine the mediating role of commitment.The findings stated that customer commitment positively mediated the relationship between trust and customer loyalty.The results of the study stated that banks should improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the processes,deliver timely services,give great concerns to individual customers attention,respect their queries,deliver their services based on their needs and willingness and avoid ques in delivering services and potential conflicts which leads to increase in customer loyalty and failure can result into the switching and word-of-mouth.In addition,this research has several theoretical and practical implications,such as the present research adds value to the existing literature of the banking sector by empirically connecting a more comprehensive list of relationship marketing factors to the dependent variable.The present study evidenced that the list of potential underpinnings(conflicts handling,empathy,service quality,trust,and commitment)all have positive and significant impacts on customer loyalty in the banking sector of Ghana,especially in the case of GCB BANK LTD.In the present research,all hypotheses were supported,which proposes that association among customer relationship marketing,its underpinnings,and customer loyalty are not likely to deviate due to conditions prevalent in the banking sector of Ghana,especially GCB BANK LTD.