Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction: A Study of Retail Bank Customers in Owo Local Government Area, Ondo State Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68050/JAMS.2026.425Keywords:
Keywords: Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, SERVPERF, SERVQUAL, Retail BanksAbstract
This study examined the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction among retail (commercial) bank customers in Owo Local Government Area, Ondo State, Nigeria. Anchored on the SERVQUAL gap model and using a descriptive research design, the study drew a convenience sample of 300 customers from six commercial banks, with 260 usable responses (87% response rate). Data were collected using a structured questionnaire patterned on the SERVPERF model of Cronin and Taylor (1992), covering the five service quality dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles, and analysed using descriptive statistics, an independent-samples t-test, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression. The results show that overall service quality was moderately high (grand mean = 2.84), with empathy (mean = 3.36), assurance (mean = 3.24), and responsiveness (mean = 3.15) rated highly, while reliability (mean = 2.14) and tangibles (mean = 2.33) were rated low. Customers' self-reported satisfaction levels differed significantly (t = 6.427, p < .05), leading to rejection of the first null hypothesis. All five service quality dimensions correlated positively with customer satisfaction, and regression analysis showed that service quality significantly predicted customer satisfaction (Adjusted R² = 0.893, p < .05), with empathy (β = 0.680) exerting the strongest influence, leading to rejection of the second null hypothesis. The study concludes that service quality is a strong predictor of customer satisfaction among retail bank customers in Owo LGA, and recommends that banks prioritise improvements in reliability and tangibles while sustaining their strengths in empathy and responsiveness.
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