Customer Engagement and Loyalty Intentions of Customers from Employee perception in Indian banking sector

Abstract

In the vital fact that the method of doing business is changing rapidly especially in the financial institutions where technology is driving business whereas human face remains the major customer attraction, this study is initiated.In a majority of service organisations, the relationship between employees and customers is the key to customer satisfaction which in turn affects the growth and profitability of the organisation. This is so because many service organisations provide intangible services and their products are not measurable. Hence, it is the employees that represent the organisation to the customers.  The purpose of the current research is to understand customer engagement from employee perception in Indian private banks. The findings suggest that loyalty, trust, self – brand connection and emotional brand attachment are the factors that influence a customer’s engagement levels to varying degrees. While customer loyalty is deeply influenced by the banks’ techniques and strategies to mutually interrelate with the customers for greater engagement, the personal interactions between the bank’s officials and customers help in sustaining strong emotional brand attachment in the customers resulting in greater engagement. Moreover, the findings also indicate that customers are able to experience greater self – brand connection with the banks when the brand’s concepts and associated actions connect with the customer’s personal expectations heavily influencing the services they undertake with the bank. It means that customers who are satisfied with employee’s behaviour will be attracted to the same service organisation than the same customer would be attracted in similar organisations where they do not perceive employee engagement as attractive.