Customer expectations of the Taiwan banking industry

This study will examine customer expectations of the banking industry in Taiwan in order to determine how banks in Taiwan can improve their service delivery. To provide background information for this study, the changes in Taiwan's banking industry will be presented. In addition, the concept of service quality and its applicability to this study will be discussed. For the research portion of this study, 100 participants who are customers of three leading banks in Taiwan will be surveyed. Using a modified version of the SERVPERF instrument designed by Wang, Lo and Hui (2003), the researcher will ask participants to rate a series of statements that revolve around their perceptions of the service quality of their respective banks. They will use a seven-point Likert scale to evaluate these statements based on their level of expectations. The results of the survey will be presented in two sections. First, the findings of the participants' perceptions of the service quality of the banking industry as a whole (as represented by the three banks) will be presented. Second, the participants' responses will be grouped according to their respective banks. Based on this categorization, the strengths and the deficiencies of the individual banks can then be identified. Moreover, the top executives of the three banks will be interviewed with regard to their efforts to enhance service quality. These findings will thus provide a starting point for Taiwan's banks to examine their internal practices and improve their service quality.