ACOST-BENEFIT APPROACH IN DEVELOPMENTOFSERVICE LOYALTY- AN APPLICATION IN THE BANKING SECTOR

As is known, for both of the goods and services, the most determining characteristic of customer loyalty is permanency. Consumers evaluate the service of a company by making a cost-benefit analysis before they become the regular customers of the company. This study aims to investigate both customers’ evaluations of the banking services and the effects of these evaluations on the service loyalty in terms of cost-benefit approach. In the development of service loyalty, the benefit component involves service quality factor, while the cost component involves economic costs, transaction cost and switching costs. With the data obtained from the customers of Trabzon and Ankara branches of a private bank, the roles of both benefit and cost dimensions on service loyalty were explored by regression analysis. Besides, we investigated the type of customer and customer’s residential area creates a statistically significant difference on service loyalty.