The impact of effective customer service management practices on the competitiveness of credit institutions in Uganda: A case study of Post Bank Limited

Abstract

It has been observed that quality customer service management practices affect sales, retention, market acceptance and the good will of a firm; however, effective customer service management comes at price to achieve competitiveness in credit institutions.

The conceptualized variables included customer centric practices as the independent variable and competitiveness as the dependent variable. The implementation of these customer centric values and practices result into increase competitiveness by driving Truthfulness and Liability, Activity Continuity, Intelligence skills, Customer satisfaction and Competence and Helpfulness respectively.

The study used a cross-sectional survey design whereby, data was elicited regarding wide range of variables at the same point in time rather than attempting to investigate the facts over time. The survey adopted the mixed research approach by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. A sample size of 113 respondents selected using a random sampling technique was used to determine the influence of customer service management practices on competitiveness. From the findings, the results prove that customer service management practices plays a very big role in determining competitiveness but also highlight other intervening factors that exacerbate competitiveness among credit institutions. Significant correlation was found between customer loyalty and satisfaction and key customer service attributes in PBU.

PBU was also found to have sound customer service practices and the staff were aware of them for example; Most (70%) of the staff understood customer service but the way they understood it differed. The commonest understanding of customer service by staff included being courteous, being responsive to queries complaints and feedback as well being able to satisfy customer needs. In the same vein, all the 95% of the staff that get an opportunity to interact with the customers exploit this by collecting some kind of feedback. The feedback collected from clients was used by staff in management positions to change policies and product packages in line with the new customer expectations thereby revealed through the regular feedback thus increase the quality of service rendered and hence competitiveness.