Service Quality Level of Post Office Saving Bank: A Perspective from Customers and Employees
Sarang Narula1, Priyanka Arora2
1Dr. Sarang Narula, Assistant Professor, University School of Applied Management, Punjabi University, Patiala (Punjab), India.
2Priyanka Arora, Research Scholar, University School of Applied Management, Punjabi University, Patiala (Punjab), India.
Manuscript received on 22 October 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 25 October 2019 | Manuscript Published on 02 November 2019 | PP: 4143-4152 | Volume-8 Issue-2S11 September 2019 | Retrieval Number: B15280982S1119/2019©BEIESP | DOI: 10.35940/ijrte.B1528.0982S1119
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The study aims to analyze the level of service quality of Post office Saving Bank from perspectives of customers and employees both. In particular, the objective of the paper is to study major gap i.e. service quality gap and other gaps contributing to major gap i.e. understanding gap, internal evaluation gap and service delivery gap. Present research seeks to gain an empirical insight into customers’ perceptions of service quality in Indian Postal Services. The target population of the survey was all the saving scheme users of Post Office saving Bank in Punjab state and all the employees working in POSB. For the purpose, the paper applies ‘Simple random sampling technique’ taking sample size of 200 customers and 100 employees. Data has been collected from various branches of ‘India post’ across State of Punjab. The relevant literature and instruments developed by past studies provided the base for developing research instrument. The study uses modified SERVQUAL with total of 35 items. For measuring mean differences, independent sample T-Test was used. The findings of the study revealed that service quality level of POSB was far below the expectations of customers. The service quality gap indicates that there were problems in understanding expectations of customers, making service standards and delivering service which collectively became the reason of this gap. The study will be extremely useful for the service providers and management as it pinpoints the areas of service shortfalls which need improvement. This paper develops a new model which consists of various service quality gaps causing major service quality gap. Considering the limitations of study, the paper also provides some directions for future scope of research in the same area as well as in other areas.
Keywords: Service Quality, SERVQUAL, Customers’ Perceptions, Customers’ Expectations, Employees’ Perceptions and Employees’ Perceptions of Customers’ Expectations.
Scope of the Article: Quality Assurance Process, Standards, and Systems