A study on the effect of service quality on customer loyalty and corporate performance in financial industry

Non-financial factors including quality of services, the flexibility of a company, utilization of resources, and market orientation are regarded as significant determinants that enhance the profitability-based performance of a service company or a hotel. The study investigated the interaction between these factors and hotel operating performance measured by the hospitality performance and results indicators. Data on 346 executives of Vietnam’s hospitality companies were collected. A structural equation modeling (SEM) method was utilized to examine the positive-direct and moderating effects of non-financial factors on hotel performance in terms of occupancy rate (OCR), average daily rate (ADR), and the revenue per available room (RevPAR). The findings showed that service quality ( = 0.118, p < 0.05), flexibility ( = 0.173, p < 0.05) and resource utilization (= 0.172, p < 0.05) positively affected the performance of Vietnam’s hospitality companies. Meanwhile, innovation showed no direct influence (p = 0.068) but an indirect impact on the performance through service quality ( = 0.311, p < 0.05). Market orientation did not impact the performance (p = 0.076) but it positively affected both innovation ( = 0.322, p < 0.05) and service quality ( = 0.146, p < 0.05). The study contributed to a theoretical enhancement of the current level of knowledge on the factors that affect the performance and developed a reliable scale for measuring the performance of hotels in Vietnam.

The study was conducted by collecting the data from 608 customers of migrant retailers working in the retail industry of Pretoria West in South Africa in order to identify socioeconomic factors that affect customer loyalty. Data was collected from eligible respondents by using a pre-tested, validated and standardised questionnaire of study that was self-administered by respondents. The study found that about 69% of customers were loyal to their retailers. About 68% of customers had a favorable attitude towards their retailers. About 68% of retailers used appropriate promotional measures for marketing their goods to potential customers. About 69% of retailers provided their customers with satisfactory quality of services. About 67% of customers were loyal to their retailers’ brands. Factor analysis was used for extracting 3 influential predictors of customer loyalty. These factors were entrepreneurial skills, marketing skills, and selling price. The percentage of variance explained by the 3 extracted factors was equal to 92.58%.

Significant gap in investment resources for financing Sustainable Development Goals can be overcome with the revitalization of the corporate social responsibility mechanism of the financial sector institutions, for example banks and stock exchanges as the largest players in the global financial sector. The most relevant for them are Goals 1, 5, 8, 10, 13, 17. Incorporating these goals into activities of the financial sector institutions requires not only the activation of their CSR mechanism in the directions indicated by the targets, but also the radical restructuring of all business processes and the reorientation of their overall sustainability strategy. Analysis of current sustainability reporting disclosure by financial sector institutions in global and regional aspects was conducted. Based on the analysis, the authors define the role of CSRs of banks and stock exchanges in SDG financing as follows: banks – ensuring their own sustainability and efficiency through CSR mechanisms, formation of new tools, methods and technologies of financial support of SDG; stock exchanges – minimization of information asymmetry in investor decision making, taking into consideration ESG criteria, formation of exemplary disclosure practices and new markets and market benchmarks by listing companies.