Service Quality, Relationship Quality and Customer Loyalty (Case Study: Banking Industry in Iran)

Customer loyalty has two meanings: long-term and short-term loyalty. Customers with long-term loyalty do not easily switch to other service providers, while customers with short-term loyalty defect more easily when offered a perceived better alternative. With regard to the importance of customers in banking industry, this research explores how relationship quality and commitment and mental image influence long-term loyalty. Relationship quality consists of two aspects: satisfaction and trust. So, along with how the above mentioned variables from loyalty in a bank environment, the managers of the branches of private banks are given the chance to design and perform effective and proper strategies leading to customer loyalty. The statistical populations of the research are the customers of private banks and the data was collected using the questionnaire and also the data has been analyzed using SPSS software. The results of the research show the positive effect of the abovementioned variables on loyalty.