Exploring the Impact of front-office employee Behavior on Bank Customer Loyalty: Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

The role of the front-office employee is of paramount importance in the relational fabric that underpins customer loyalty, a variable of considerable significance in the edifice of competitive banking supremacy. Because of its direct and constant interaction with customers, this segment of the workforce assumes a strategic position within this dynamic. Indeed, the interactions between front-line staff and customers are of a substantial nature, being the epicenter where perceptions and experiences converge, thus having a considerable impact on the sustainability and enrichment of the banking relationship.

The intrinsic behavior of the front-office employee is a key element in the relational architecture that maintains and enhances the customer-bank bond. In this respect, the decisive nature of the behavior in question requires in-depth exploration in order to decipher its underlying implications. Consequently, the primary essence of the present research lies in the methodical examination of the influence exerted by the behavior of the front-office employee on bank customer loyalty, an influence mediated by the crucial dimension of trust that is established between the parties.

The main objective, therefore, is to examine, analyze and unravel the interstitial links between contact personnel behavior and customer loyalty, while reflecting on the catalytic intermediary that is trust. The conceptual framework within which this investigation operates encompasses elements of social psychology, behavioral economics and management science, thus building a multidisciplinary foundation that lends a holistic dimension to the analysis in question.

The results of this investigation support and illuminate the conceptual framework developed earlier. The emerging data, following a series of rigorous analytical approaches, confirm the existence of an intrinsic and substantial relationship between the different variables explored, in this case, the front-office employee behavior and bank customer loyalty.

Keywords: Behavior of front-office employee, banking sector, customer loyalty, trust.
JEL Classification: G29, M31, M51

Paper type: Empirical research