Doctoral thesis: Friendly staff most valuable for retail bank customers over time

In his doctoral thesis ”How Do Customers Percei

ve Value-In-Use? Empirical Insights from Bank Service Stories”, Gustav Medberg explores how retail bank customers perceive value in bank service processes. While previous studies on value for customers have defined value as a static evaluation of the service that takes place at one point in time, Medberg investigates how retail bank customers’ perceptions of value evolve positively and negatively over time.

The findings of Medberg’s thesis show not only how perceptions of value evolve over time, but also what customers value the most in bank services.

– I was surprised to discover how fundamental and basic many of the most highly valued aspects of bank services were, and how often customers thought they were missing, notes Medberg.

According to Medberg, the most common source of value for customers was the friendliness of the staff. Also other factors, such as banking fees and the speed of the service process, often play an important role in the customers’ perceptions of value.

To study value as a dynamic process, Medberg created a new research method, the Value Chart Technique (VCT). The VCT is a research method that allows the customers to graphically illustrate in a chart how their perceptions of value evolve positively or negatively throughout service episodes.

- Perhaps the most interesting finding of the study was the extent to which the customers’ perceptions of value change and develop over time.

Consequently, banks have excellent opportunities to influence their customers’ perceived value throughout their entire service process, Medberg emphasises.

Gustav Medberg defended his thesis on the 28th of April 2016. The thesis can be accessed through the following link Opens in new window .