CUSTOMERS’ SATISFACTION OF BANKING
SERVICES IN SAUDI ARABIA: COMPARISON OF
MALE AND FEMALE CUSTOMERS
2nd International Conference on “Managing Human Resources at the
Workplace”
SDMIMD, Mysore, December 13-14, 2013
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Dr. Bokkasam Sasidhar
Dr. Ibrahim Abdullah Aljasser
King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Context of the Study
In Saudi Arabia, the practical necessity has
forced majority of the banks to open women-
only branches in addition to traditional
branches.
The question is whether these branches
provide the much needed customer
satisfaction to their customers?
It is against this background that this study
tries to evaluate customers’ satisfaction of
male customers using traditional banking
channels and female bankers using women-
only banks in Saudi Arabia
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Purpose of present study
The aim of this study is to present an
original customer satisfaction survey
conducted in the Saudi banking
sector.
The survey took place in and out of
different branches of various
traditional banks and women-only
banks in Saudi Arabia, in order to
determine the perceptions of the
entire gamut of customers.
3
Conceptual Issues
In banking sector, customers are presumed
to be one of the most important
stakeholders, because without them, banks
are not likely to succeed. Hence, banks
emphasize on research in the area of
customer satisfaction.
Leeds (1992) documented that
approximately 40 percent of customers
switched banks because of what they
considered to be poor service.
Leeds, B. (1992). 'Mystery Shopping' Offers Clues to Quality
Service. Bank Marketing, 24(11), November, 24-27
4
Building Customers’ Satisfaction Model
The foundation of this model is set by focused
interviews of the bank customers to describe the
characteristics contributing to their banking
satisfaction. This was undertaken to identify the most
relevant factors affecting the customers in their
banking activities.
The inputs from the focused group discussions were
used to establish the customer satisfaction model
and to frame the questionnaire.
The model consisting of five factors was sub defined
as per the perception of the respondents. All these
five factors created clear sense of awareness in
customers mind regarding satisfaction.
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Customers’ Satisfaction Model
The factors and the variables within the factors that were perceived by the
respondents to have influence on the customer satisfaction:
About the bank: Variables include Range of products provided by the bank,
Bank's network (Branches, ATMs, etc.), Letters and Brochures, Attending to
queries etc.
About the Branch Banking: Location of the branch, Waiting time,
Courteousness of staff, Availability of parking, Convenience during waiting
time, Décor etc.
About on-line Banking: Logging on to the bank website, On-line
transactions etc.
About ATM Banking: Location, ATM transactions etc.
About Phone Banking: Call handling, Courteousness, Connecting to the
right person, Handling problem etc.
These factors are in line with the critical factors driving customer satisfaction
in Greek private bank sector and also Indian banking sector (Mihelis et. al.
2001; Aayushi Gupta & Santosh Dev 2012).
Mihelis, G., Grigoroudis, E., Siskos.Y., Politis, Y., & Malandrakis, Y.(2001). Customer satisfaction
measurement in the private bank sector, European Journal of Operational Research, 130 (2001)
347-360.
Aayushi Gupta & Santosh Dev (2012). Client satisfaction in Indian banks: an empirical study,
Management Research Review, 35(7), 617 – 636
6
Methodology
Exploratorysurvey
Focus Group discussion (among the bank
customers to describe the characteristics contributing
to their banking satisfaction)
◦ to identify the factors and the variables
within the factors
Questionnaire based data collection
Analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics 20
Findings based on study
7
Exploratory study
A total of 55 male and 280 female
bank users (using women-only
banks) were randomly selected and
data was collected by meeting the
customers face to face.
One response had to be ignored, in
view of incomplete data provided for
all sections of the questionnaire.
Thus, finally data from 334
questionnaires were used for analysis
8
Analysis and Findings
9
Characteristics of the sample
95% of the respondents were Saudi nationals
About 51% are employed in public sector
organizations.
Sample covered the entire range age groups,
education levels and income ranges.
In terms of mode of transactions used by the
respondents, it is observed that transacting
through on-line mode followed by ATM seem to be
the most preferred modes for male whereas the
order of preference is ATM followed by on-line
mode for females. The phone banking and branch
banking is preferred by about 16% of the
respondents.
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Frequently used banks
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RELIABILITY ANALYSIS
FACTORS CRONBACH
ALPHA
FACTOR 1: About the Bank 0.823
FACTOR 2: About the Branch Banking 0.919
FACTOR 3: About On-line Banking 0.923
FACTOR 4: About ATM Banking 0.874
FACTOR 5: About Phone Banking 0.904
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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION HYPOTHESES
H1: There is positive relationship between
perception about the bank and customer
.satisfaction
H2: There is positive relationship between the
branch banking factors and customer satisfaction.
H3: There is positive relationship between on-line
banking facilities and customer satisfaction.
H4: There is positive relationship between ATM
facilities and customer satisfaction.
H5: There is positive relationship between phone
banking facilities and customer satisfaction.
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Hypotheses Assessment Summary
[Link]. Hypothesis Correlation Sig. Result
1 H1: Perception about the bank 0.620 .000 Accepted
2 H2 : Branch banking 0.677 .000 Accepted
3 H3 : On-line banking facilities 0.524 .000 Accepted
4 H4 : ATM banking facilities 0.557 .000 Accepted
5 H5: Phone banking facilities 0.636 .000 Accepted
Model Summary
Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate
1 .822a .675 .669 .849
a. Predictors: (Constant), Phone_Banking, ATM_Banking, Branch_Banking,
On_Line_Banking, About_the_Bank, Bank_Personnel
The five factors are significantly related to the customer satisfaction and
these factors explain about 67% of overall satisfaction
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Gender-wise Group Statistics for Customer Satisfaction Factors
Group Statistics
Std. Std. Error
Gender N Mean Deviation Mean
Global Male 220 4.75 .960 .065
Satisfaction Female
279 5.16 1.546 .093
About the Male 220 5.0582 2.22618 .15009
Bank Female 279 5.2444 1.35701 .08124
Branch Male 220 4.4303 1.23483 .08325
Banking Female 279 4.8566 1.45796 .08729
On Line Male 220 5.4545 1.33503 .09001
Banking Female 279 5.6380 1.48573 .08895
ATM Banking Male 220 5.1879 1.00987 .06809
Female 279 5.5573 1.35338 .08102
Phone Male 220 4.4409 1.66755 .11243
Banking Female 279 5.1900 1.58900 .09513
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SIGNIFICANCE TESTS FOR GLOBAL
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
One-Sample Test for Male data
Test Value = 4
95% Confidence Interval of the
Mean Difference
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Lower Upper
Global_Satisfaction 5.720 54 .000 .745 .48 1.01
One-Sample Test for Female data
Test Value = 4
95% Confidence Interval of the
Mean Difference
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Lower Upper
Global_Satisfaction 12.586 278 .000 1.165 .98 1.35
Global Satisfaction levels are significantly higher than the neutral perception level
of 4 (on a seven point scale), at 1% level of significance for both male and female
customers.
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GENDER-WISE SIGNIFICANCE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION FACTORS
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error Difference
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
Global Equal variances
13.875 .000 -1.937 332 .054 -.419 .216 -.845 .006
Satisfaction assumed
Equal variances
-2.624 116.463 .010 -.419 .160 -.736 -.103
not assumed
About the Bank EVA .556 .456 -.822 332 .412 -.18626 .22661 -.63203 .25951
EV NA -.595 62.022 .554 -.18626 .31298 -.81190 .43938
Branch EVA 1.376 .242 -2.027 332 .043 -.42633 .21027 -.83996 -.01269
Banking EVNA -2.255 86.013 .027 -.42633 .18902 -.80208 -.05057
On Line EVA .077 .781 -.850 332 .396 -.18345 .21594 -.60823 .24133
Banking EVNA -.909 82.213 .366 -.18345 .20191 -.58509 .21820
ATM Banking EVA 2.782 .096 -1.920 332 .056 -.36947 .19247 -.74808 .00914
EVNA -2.320 96.024 .022 -.36947 .15926 -.68560 -.05333
Phone Banking EVA 1.044 .308 -3.028 331 .003 -.72237 .23853 -1.19160 -.25314
EVNA -2.913 72.454 .005 -.72237 .24801 -1.21671 -.22804
The global satisfaction level, the branch banking, ATM banking and
phone banking satisfaction levels are significantly higher for females
.compared to males, at 5% level of significance
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Conclusions
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Conclusions
The customer service model consisting of five factors explains about
67% of overall satisfaction
The global satisfaction levels have been observed to be 4.75 and 5.16
respectively for male and female customers, on a seven point scale, which
are significantly higher than the neutral perception level, at 1% level of
significance
Further, the global satisfaction level, the branch banking, ATM banking
and phone banking satisfaction levels are significantly higher for females
compared to males, at 5% level of significance.
The study also reveals the preferred modes of banking among the
customers and brings out the differences in the levels of customer
satisfaction among male and female bank users.
The study also provides the bank executives with insights into the kinds
of service customers find most appropriate for their banking needs.
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Limitation
This study includes only the
investigation for the customers of
traditional banks and women-only
banks of Saudi Arabia
Scope of testing the results with larger
representative sample size.
There is ample scope to test the
results using data from other sectors.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the students and faculty of
College of Business Administration of King
Saud University who helped in data
collection.
The Authors extend their appreciation to the
Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud
University, Riyadh.
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Thank you!
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