Guest editorial

Citation

Roy, S.K. (2012), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijbm.2012.03230daa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Bank Marketing, Volume 30, Issue 4

The purpose of this special edition is to explore the relationship marketing strategies in the Indian retail banking services sector especially because in the wake of the global economic downturn the importance of retaining the existing customers has heightened. Acquisition of new customers and building their confidence is no less important for robust financial performance of the banks.

Berry’s (1995) seminal work on “Relationship marketing of services” highlights the importance of using strongest possible strategies for customer bonding and building trust as a strategic tool. The recent global economic meltdown and its impact on the financial services sector in India severely affected the confidence of the customers (Reserve Bank of India, 2008). In the wake of the changing dynamics Indian banks are resorting to building long-term relationship with their customers and to maintain a trustworthy image in the market to gain customer confidence (Roy and Shekhar, 2010).

The special issue consists of four research papers.

Measuring effectiveness of customer relationship management in Indian retail banks – C. Padmavathy, M.S. Balaji, and V.J. Sivakumar

In this paper the authors have developed a multi-item scale to measure Customer Relationship Management Effectiveness (CRME) from the customer’s perspective. These authors have also tested the relationship of CRME with other outcome variables such as customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and cross-buying.

The research shows that for Indian banks to become more and more customer-centric, they need to design and implement Customer Relationship Management (CRM) using the CRME to develop and nurture strong long-term relationships with their customers.

Effects of trustworthiness and trust on loyalty intentions: validating a parsimonious model in banking – G. Shainesh

This paper highlights the importance of building trust so as to reduce the feeling of vulnerability and uncertainty amongst the customers. The author tests a model relating the perceptions of trustworthiness and trust on customers’ loyalty intentions. The findings show that the trustworthiness beliefs of competence, benevolence and problem solving orientation contribute to trust building and consequently loyalty intentions.

The implication for the banks is that they can measure the level of their consumer’s perceptions of trust and trustworthiness by conducting periodic studies using the model tested in this paper. This may result in strengthening the long-term relationships with customers.

Exploring customer switching intentions through relationship marketing paradigm – Gurjeet Kaur, R.D. Sharma and Neha Mahajan

This paper examines the switching intentions of customers in the banking services sector. These authors highlight the need for Indian retail banks to focus on the relationship-marketing paradigm to prevent customers’ behavior. Their findings highlight the importance of the relational factors such as perceived quality, customer satisfaction and customers’ trust in preventing customer defection.

The implication for the banks is to understand customer’s financial services requirement in greater detail and listening to them in order to fortify the relationship.

The impact of trust and perceived risk on internet banking adoption: an extension of technology acceptance model – Ankit Kesharwani and Shailendra Singh Bisht

This paper is an interesting extension of the technology acceptance model (TAM) in the context of acceptance of internet banking by Indian consumers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the relationship marketing variables like trust and perceived risk on the adoption of internet banking. The findings of the study are useful to the banks in engaging their consumers on the online platform so that they use online banking with higher degree of confidence.

The implications point towards the trust building mechanism of banks in the online banking context so as to cement the relationship with their customers.

Conclusions

Taken together the four articles in this special edition provide newer insights into the understanding of the relationship-marketing paradigm and the strategies being implemented from the customer’s perspective in the context of an emerging economy. The implications of these studies in this special edition are profound for practitioners. It is apparent that banks in the emerging nation like India need to revert to the relationship building and maintenance mechanism in order to build the long-term trustworthy relationship with their customers. However, the research papers also acknowledge the need to extend their work in other venues to enhance the generalizability of their findings.

This special issue could not have seen the light of the day without the help of several people. First, I would like to thank the editor of the International Journal of Bank Marketing, Professor Jillian Farquhar. Without her guidance and support the special issue would not have been completed. I am also grateful to Dr Harjit Sekhon (of Coventry University, UK) and other people at Emerald for their unconditional support on this project. My special thanks to the reviewers and the contributors. All the papers went through a double-blind review, and as a result several promising papers had to be excluded from this special issue.

Sanjit Kumar RoyGuest Editor