Service Quality of Teller in the Bank: A Case Study of the National Bank of Kuwait

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- Rationale of the Research

Statement of Research Objective

The general objective of this study is to examine the nature of the relationship between service quality of tellers in the bank and customer satisfaction. The National Bank of Kuwait will be used as the case study. The following specific objectives are factors influencing service quality of tellers in the bank derived from the general objective.

- To examine the influence of listening of tellers in the bank on the level of customer satisfaction

- To assess the influence of reliability of tellers in the bank on the level of customer satisfaction

- To establish the influence of responsiveness of teller in the bank on the level of customer satisfaction

- To ascertain the influence of servant leadership attributes of tellers in the bank on the level of customer satisfaction

C. Research Hypothesis

The study is guided by the following null hypotheses. The study findings will guide the researcher to validate the hypotheses; that is, the acceptance of the null hypotheses will mean rejecting the alternative hypotheses.

The following null hypothesis (Ho) is obtained from the first specific objective.

Hoi: Listening skills of tellers in the bank do not influence the level of customer satisfaction

The alternative hypothesis (H1) is:

H1i: Listening skills of tellers in the bank influence the level of customer satisfaction

The second specific objective provides the following null and alternative hypotheses respectively

Hoii: Reliability of tellers in the bank does not influence the level of customer satisfaction

The alternative hypothesis (H1) is:

H1ii: The reliability of tellers in the bank influences the level of customer satisfaction

The third specific objective provides the following null and alternative hypothesis

Hoiii: The responsiveness of tellers in the bank does not influence the level of customer satisfaction

The alternative hypothesis (H1) is:

H1iii: The responsiveness of tellers in the bank influence the level of customer satisfaction

The fourth specific objective gives the following null and alternative hypotheses

Hoiv: The servant leadership attributes of teller in the bank do not influence the level of customer satisfaction

The alternative hypothesis (H1) is:

H1iv: The servant leadershipattributesof teller in the bank influence the level of customer satisfaction

D. Definition of Terms

The following are the operational definitions of terms that will be used in this study. The terms are derived from the keywords and specific objectives that guide this study. However, the term ‘consumer’, ‘customer’, and ‘client’ are used synonymously and interchangeably in the study.

Customers: a consumer who is willing to do business with the bank by securing a given product or service

Intangibility: is the inability to touch or feel a product or service

Listening: refers to the ability and willingness of client support staff to listen and understand issues that clients raise

Product: this has been used in the context of this study to mean services the banks offer to customers

Reliability: is the manner in which their clients trust the banks’ deliverables.

Responsiveness: is the ability to act promptly on clients’ complaints at the bank

Servant leadership: the practice of giving direction and motivating staffs at the banking by giving them training and coaching that facilitate productivity.

Service quality: is the ability to provide assistance, service or product that meets the expectations of the banking customers (Tega, Ogege&Ideji 2014).

E. Summary

The study will focus on identifying the strength and direction of the relationship that exists between service quality of tellers in the bank and customer satisfaction. The researcher will develop a conceptual framework to guide in establishing whether the independent variable influences the independent variable. The independent variables are the four factors derived from the specific objectives, while the dependent variable is the customer satisfaction at the bank.

Section 2: Research Questions

For this research, the main research question is as follows:

- What is the nature of the relationship between service quality of tellers in the bank and customer satisfaction?

The sub-questions are as follows:

- How does the listening of tellers in the bank influence the level of customer satisfaction?

- What is the influence of reliability of tellers in the bank on the level of customer satisfaction?

- What is the influence of responsiveness of tellers in the bank on the level of customer satisfaction?

- How does servant leadership attributes of tellers in the bank influence the level of customer satisfaction?

Section 3: Literature Review

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Importance of the Research Question

The research questions are important since they will reveal the nature of the relationship between the quality of banking services offered by bank tellers and satisfaction of customers in Kuwait. This is important considering that up until now, researchers have not yet explored this topic, particularly