AN ASSESSMENT OF SERVICE QUALITY USING GAP MODEL: THE CASE OF NIB INTERNATIONAL BANK S.C.

Abstract

Service quality gap model is evaluation of expectations with performance. A business with high service quality will meet customer desires at the same time enhance its competitiveness. Advanced service quality increases overall competitiveness. One of the models in measuring service quality is service quality gaps model. The paper critically examines the bank’s service quality. The study addressed final customers who visit to conduct transaction with the bank be it deposit, withdrawal, transfer, loans and advances or any other operational activities and branch managers of those branches. The study used sample size of 208 customers and sampling technique used for this purpose is Convenience sampling technique while 16 branch managers has been addressed with purposive sampling technique. To gather the necessary data from customers and branch managers, questionnaire and interview is used respectively. To achieve the objectives of the study descriptive research design is used. The study included six general dimensions to measure the bank’s service quality. These dimensions include knowledge gap (gap 1), service design and standard gap (gap 2), service delivery gap (gap 3), promise gap (gap 4), customer gap (gap 5) and customer satisfaction. Computing the mean score of each dimension it is identified that customers’ expectation is higher than what they have perceived. This implies that in the eyes of customers the bank lacks quality service to retain them.