To Identify Service Quality Gaps in the Irish
Financial Services Industry
Sean O’Beirne – 1062579
MBA (Marketing)
Word count: 20,007
Submission Date: 16th August 2013
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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that all the information included in this dissertation towards the MBA in
Marketing is that of my own, unless otherwise referenced and indicated with inverted
commas and source of information listed. A full list of references for all wording not of my
own is included with this dissertation.
Signed: __Sean O’Beirne________
Date: ___12/08/13_____________
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Firstly I would like to give special thanks to the dissertation supervisor, Andrew Quinn,
which through our insightful conversations gave me much direction and inspiration in
formulating and generating ideas. Our meetings were instrumental in completing this
dissertation.
I would also like to thank my peers and fellow students who at times felt the same sense of
pressure and helped through their words of encouragement and motivation.
Finally I would like to thank family members and my partner Lulu, also for their
encouragement and words of wisdom but most importantly in helping me to stay focussed for
entire length of the dissertation.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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ABSTRACT
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1
1.1 Background to the Research Problem
1
1.2 Suitability of the Researcher
2
1.3 Recipients of the Research
3
1.4 Research Objectives and Hypothesis
3
1.5 Dissertation Approach
4
1.6 Dissertation Plan
5
1.7 Scope and Research Limitations
6
1.8 Contributions to the Study
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
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2.1 Financial Services Industry in Ireland
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2.2 Service Marketing
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2.3 Service Quality Measurement
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2.4 Relationship between Service Quality, Perceived Value, Customer Satisfaction
and Post-Purchase Intention
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2.5 Customer Satisfaction in Financial Service Industry
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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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3.1 Research Questions
28
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3.2 Proposed Methodology
31
3.3 Research Philosophy
31
3.4 Research Approach
35
3.5 Research Strategy
36
3.6 Research Choice
37
3.7 Time Horizon
39
3.8 Data Collection Method
40
3.9 Sampling Selection
41
3.10 Research Ethics
42
3.11 Research Limitations
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CHAPTER 4: DATA FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
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4.1 Introduction
45
4.2 In-Depth Interviews
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4.2.1 Interview Questions and Answers – For Client Services Managers (Service
Providers/Fund Administrators)
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4.2.2 Interview Questions and Answers – Portfolio Managers (Service
Users/Investment Managers)
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CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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5.1 Conclusions
63
5.1.1 Hypothesis 1
64
5.1.2 Hypothesis 2
66
5.1.3 Hypothesis 3
67
5.2 Recommendations
69
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CHAPTER 6: SELF-REFLECTION ON LEARNING
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6.1 Introduction
74
6.2 Researcher Background
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6.3 Reflection on Learning Experience
77
6.4 Development of Learning and Performance
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6.4.1 Planning and Preparation Skills
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6.4.2 Communication Skills
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6.4.3 Self Awareness Skills
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6.4.4 Management Skills
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6.5 Scope of future application for learning
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REFERENCES
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APPENDICES
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APPENDIX 1: RESEARCH PLAN – GANTT CHART
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APPENDIX 2: DISSERTATION COSTS
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APPENDIX 3: CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT (SAMPLE)
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APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
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APPENDIX 5: FUND PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION ANALYSIS
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APPENDIX 6: RISK MANAGEMENT REPORTING
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Service characteristics and marketing challenges
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Figure 2: SERVQUAL GAP Model
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Figure 3: The research ‘onion’
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Figure 4 – Kolb’s learning styles
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ABSTRACT
Despite the financial industry crash of 2008 not just in Ireland but on a global scale, the
financial services industry remains a key cornerstone of the Irish economy and an important
element of the Irish Government’s foreign direct investment strategy. However, research has
been relatively limited in the context of the Irish Financial services industry, in terms of gaps
in service quality and any potential opportunities that may exist. This study therefore lends
itself well towards the analysis of the industry and researching improvements and
opportunities in what remains a globally competitive industry.
Due to the exploratory nature of the research subject a qualitative approach was taken
towards this study. This involved conducting four in-depth interviews with key elements
within the industry in Ireland namely on the Fund Administration side and the Investment
Manager side. Therefore the interviews covered the service provider side (Fund
Administrators) and the customer/service user side (Investment Managers).
The outcome of the collected data provided some very important factors for the Irish industry
to consider, focussing on the gaps in the industry and where opportunities exist. After the
analysis and interpretation of the collaborated data, this study provides recommendations and
conclusions regarding these service quality gaps and new prospects to be pursued.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to Research Problem
‘Despite the upheaval in the global financial services industry over the last two years, the
Irish Financial Services Industry has shown remarkable resilience and strength. Given the
size and importance of the financial services industry globally, despite the crisis, the Irish
Financial Industry continues to be an important growth opportunity’ – FSI Ireland 2013)
Despite all the recent negative perceptions towards the financial industry whether morally
justified or not, as of 2013 the Financial Services Industry in Ireland remains of strategic
importance to economic growth and continues to evolve in a very dynamic fashion. The
industry represents a very significant part of the Irish economy and therefore it is important
that it is understood how we can continually improve financial services and service quality,
considering increasing competition from not just existing fund servicing locations such as
Luxembourg and Cayman Islands but also increasing competition from growing and lower
cost financial centres such as those in Budapest and Bangalore, India.
According to the FSI (Financial Services Ireland), the industry employs 32,000 people,
contributes €2.1bn to the exchequer and 7.4% of total Irish GDP. It also represents 10% of all
multinationals in the country. Therefore it is important that research is carried out on
maintaining and improving service quality given the importance of the sector.
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Delivering consistently good service quality is difficult but profitable for service
organisations (Zeithaml, Berry, Parasuraman 1988); therefore this study seeks to eliminate
these difficulties by identifying key service quality gaps and areas for service improvement
within the sector. “Service quality positively influences both perceived value and customer
satisfaction” (Ying-Feng Kuo, Chi-Ming Wu, Wei-Jaw Deng 2009) so the study will evaluate
customer (Fund Managers/Investors) perceptions of service quality (service delivered by
Fund Administrators, Custodians, Back-Office operations) within the context of the Irish
Financial Services Industry. The dissertation considers the intricacies of understanding
measurement of service quality in financial services.
1.2 Suitability of the Researcher
The researcher has studied services marketing theory at both undergraduate and post-graduate
level and previously obtained a BA degree in Business Studies incorporating marketing
modules. Therefore this knowledge of existing services marketing theory was applied to the
case study.
Further to the marketing theory studied, the topic selection was based on the fact that the
researchers own professional experience includes 6 years working within the Financial
Services Industry at global firms such as JPMorgan and Northern Trust. The researchers work
experience to date involves both client service provider level (Fund Administration, Back
Office) and service user level (Fund/Asset Manager, Front Office) which can be used to
support the arguments made by this study. Suitable contacts within the industry also helped
the researcher to investigate the subject.
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1.3 Recipients of the Research
Dublin Business School/Liverpool John Moores University will be furnished with this
research project along with the appointed supervisor namely Andrew Quinn.
This is a pioneering study (in terms of industry context) and it is the intention of the
researcher that this study aims to facilitate the financial authorities (IFIA, IFS) and
government bodies (e.g. IBEC, IDA, Central Bank) in Ireland to improve service quality to
Fund/Asset Managers and Investors.
This study also aims to aid the Fund Administration Companies here to identify the gaps in
their service that they provide to investors, so they can offer an enhanced facility. Finally the
research aims to help all of the above to identify opportunities for continued success in
Ireland with the Financial Industry.
1.4 Research Objectives and Hypothesis
The central objectives of this research project is to investigate if there are any gaps in service
quality in the Irish Financial Services Industry, whereby not only service quality in the sector
will be objectively measured, but also this study seeks to identifying the gaps or opportunities
that the sector in Ireland can utilize or capitalise on in terms of new service offering gaps.
Therefore this study also sets to add a new layer to the traditional definition of improving
service quality (focussing purely on the existing service levels) by incorporating new
additional contributions to existing service levels as a means to measure and improve service.
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Following the review of the existing literature regarding service quality, with consideration to
the financial sector in Ireland, the researcher considers that due to the dynamic nature of the
financial industry, in an ever increasingly globalised world perceptions of quality will need to
be matched by add-on value.
With this in mind the following hypothesis has been produced:
–
Investment Managers (service users) perception of service quality is based on their
experiences in dealing with the service offerings of Investment Administrators (service
providers).
–
Investment Managers perceived value from service quality can be significantly increased
from the provision of add-on high level servicing tasks.
–
Customer satisfaction, loyalty and increased consumption to Irish service providers is
achieved when perceptions are exceeded from this high level servicing and a move away
from the provision of back office servicing only.
1.5 Dissertation Approach
The first aspect when conducting a study of this nature is the review of the existing literature
and evidence relating to service quality. The review of the literature will engage the evolution
of service quality and its application to the financial industry. This will involve the analysis
of service marketing, measuring service quality with models e.g. SERVQUAL/RATER, as
well as customer satisfaction and the post consumption intentions.
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In developing answers from the testing of the hypothesis and research objectives, the
researcher will examine the services associated with Investment Managers and their
perceptions relating to the use of the Fund Administrators. The next aim of this study is to
examine if the fund administration services are measuring up to perceptions and expectations.
This is the most salient aspect of the research project as it will gauge and identify whether
there are areas that the Irish financial industry needs to improve on as well as possibly
recognizing and uncovering areas that will grow the industry in this country. The researcher
will use qualitative data analysis methods in collecting this data.
The collected data will then be interpreted in detail with a discussion of the data findings.
Finally the recommendations and potential solutions for the industry will be provided to
enhance the service quality of the industry.
1.6 Dissertation Plan
The dissertation to indentify gaps in the Irish financial services industry is incorporated
across 6 chapters set out as follows:
The first chapter will provide a brief background to the topic inclusive of the relevance and
usefulness of the study as well as the background and suitability of the researcher. The
second chapter will involve a detailed review of the existing literature on service quality,
while also trying to identify if the literature has not yet uncovered any existing problems
besetting the Irish financial Industry. Chapter 3 sets out the design of the research and the
methodologies employed in order to gather the data as well as the reasoning behind the
selection of these methods. The fourth chapter presents the collected data from the in-depth
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interviews that were carried out. This area sets out the results of the research as well as the
findings. The fifth chapter provides the conclusions of the study along with the
recommendations of the research findings that merit further investigation. The last chapter
includes a self reflection piece from conducting a study of this nature.
Finally an appendix and bibliography section will be provided showing all external points of
reference the author has used as well all additional information used in the study.
1.7 Scope and Research Limitations
Due to the limits of time and a project deadline the research will have been conducted over a
relatively short time span. Therefore a snapshot study will face time management issues.
Bearing in mind these research deadlines it was also not possible to include all service users
and service providers in the Irish financial industry given the amount of financial companies
in operation. The sample size of two service providers (Fund Administrators) and two service
users (Investment Managers) is therefore a limitation of the study. Due to the confidential
nature of the financial industry, respondents may limit their responses due to corporate
confidentiality. Every effort will be made to limit the impact of this limitation and signed
confidentiality forms will be provided to respondents. These research limitations will be
detailed further in the research methodology section of the study.
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1.8 Contributions to the Study
It is important to note the contributions made to this study and any potential effects the study
may have on future research. Significant contributions to the study have been made by the
existing research that has been carried out over the years. The literature review contained in
Chapter two of the study details the contribution of the literature relevant to this study and is
fully referenced in the bibliography. The in-depth interviews conducted amongst the
Administrators and Investment Managers across the industry in Ireland have greatly aided the
dissertation with their inputs. As they are the key components of the industry their responses
have provided a great insight into understanding the research problem and providing the
required solutions.
Due to the growth of the Financial Industry in Ireland over the past decade and in this context,
this study will provide a reference point to the area of service quality in Finance. This study
will have also contributed to further research as little research on service quality gaps in the
Irish Financial Services sector has been conducted to date.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Financial Services Industry in Ireland
Since the formation of Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) by the Irish
Government with EU approval in 1987, it is now internationally recognised as a choice
location of international financial services, ranging from banking and treasury to insurance
and funds. The centre is host to some of the world’s top global financial institutions with
companies such as State Street, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, Merrill Lynch and ABN
Amro managing European and global functions from Ireland.
However, the financial services sector has experienced unprecedented challenges over the
past five years and it is more demanding and less forgiving than ever before. According to
the Irish Times, Dublin’s international standing as a financial centre has taken a further knock
in the latest ranking of global centres to 56th spot. To remain competitive and maintain its
international standing, Ireland’s financial services industry needs to identify service quality
gaps in order to improve service quality and satisfy the investors and Investment/Asset
Managers. The hypothesis is tested on variable factors influencing the relationship between
service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and purchase intention.
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2.2 Services Marketing
The economies of most developed and developing countries have moved away from
agriculture and industry and are increasingly characterised as service economies. According
to Gronroos (2000), “services and physical goods should not be kept apart anymore.” Similar
arguments can be found in the work of Schlesinger and Heskett (1992), Normann and
Ramirez (1993), Gronroos (1994), Gummesson (1995), and Vargo and Lusch (2004).
Characteristics of services and marketing challenges
Bitner, Fisk and Brown (1993) suggest that the major output from the services marketing
literature up to 1980 was the delineation of four services characteristics: intangibility,
inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability. These characteristics underpinned the case for
services marketing and made services a field of marketing that was distinct from the
marketing of products. Each of the unique characteristics of services leads to specific
problems for service sectors such as the financial services industry and necessitates special
strategies for dealing with them. Furthermore, these characteristics are usually seen as
hurdles, or negative qualities of services, to be overcome by marketing (e.g., Zeithaml and
Bitner 2000). This requires services marketing specific solutions, strategies developed from
experience in goods marketing are often insufficient.
Intangibility
According to Bateson (1979) intangibility is the critical goods-services distinction from
which all other differences emerge. Services cannot be felt, seen, tasted, heard or smelled
before they are bought. Thus intangibility poses a challenge to firms providing services rather
than physical goods, as they need to give tangible evidence for the quality of the service.
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In the case of the financial services industry, most companies provide intangible professional
services, thus it’s harder to show clients the quality of the end product than tangible products.
This could be explained in the context of an investment manager buying the service from a
Fund Administrator, an External Auditor, a Fund Promoter, a Prime Broker or Cash
Custodian etc. The Investment Manager perceives a risk when using these services since it is
difficult to know in advance what they will be getting. To reassure the Investment Manager
and to sustain differentiation from the other similar firms, the relevant service providers need
to have an efficient facility that the Investment Manager can see, and an easy-to-navigate
website that lists all the service offerings, and a reliable, competent and professional team to
help clients.
In general, service providers must be able to convert intangible services into concrete benefits.
Consider the use of an external auditor’s service to a fund manager, the auditor extracts
financial information from the funds managed by the Fund Administrator, design audit
testing approaches and then provide audit opinions and recommendations to the fund
manager. This translates the auditor’s service into tangible benefits for the fund manager.
Inseparability
Inseparability of production and consumptions involves the simultaneous production and
consumption which characterises most services (Regan 1963). This makes it harder to
separate a service from the service provider since the client is also present as the service is
produced. Provider and client interaction is a fundamental feature of marketing services
because both provide and customers affect the quality of the service. People are a crucial
factor in the service delivery process, since a service is inseparable from the person providing
it. Consequently, many financial services companies invest heavily on customer service
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training and staff quality training. These companies would encourage their staff to undertake
and complete relevant professional qualifications in order to improve their technical
knowledge and provide expertises that are superior then their competitors.
Inseparability also means that the producer and the seller are the same entity, making only
direct distribution possible in most cases (Upah 1980) and causing marketing and production
to be highly interactive (Gronroos 1978). Chase & Stewart, (1994), while extending the
concept of Poka Yokes (suggested by Shigoe Shingo) i.e. fail safe method from
manufacturing sector to service sector points out that, because of inseparability, customer
error can directly affect the service outcome and therefore quality control becomes extremely
difficult in services. Hartline and Ferrel (1996) while studying the impact of service
employee management(empowerment, evaluation and commitment) in hotel industry suggest
that because of inseparability quality control in services is very difficult as the attitude of
customer-contact employees can influence customers‘ perceptions of the service.
Heterogeneity
Heterogeneity concerns the potential for high variability in the performance of services.
Heterogeneity in service output is a particular problem for labour intensive services. “Many
different employees may be in contact with an individual customer, raising a problem of
consistency of behaviour” (Langeard et al. 1981, p. 16). Hess, R. et al. (2003), in a survey of
346 senior undergraduate business students at a large university found that service
performance variability and failures arise from the inseparability of service production and
consumption, which prevents quality inspection of most service prior to delivery.
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Ellram et al., (2007) suggests that it is difficult to provide consistent quality to service
customers as services are provided by human beings and as such are related to the exchange
of human knowledge, expertise and capabilities which can fluctuate from person to person
and with time. This poses a big challenge for service providers, however service firms can
take various measurements towards quality control. For financial services firms, the first is to
recruit the right candidates with relevant qualifications and experience and provide them with
excellent training and further study opportunities. Another measurement is standardising the
service performance process like creating a standard checklist or flowchart to map out every
service process. A lot of fund administration companies would contract an external auditor to
evaluate the design and operating effectiveness of its internal controls which is a process to
standardise the service performance process. This document (SAS 70 report) signed off by
the external auditor will provide some degree of comfort and reassurance of the quality of the
services provided to the clients.
Perishability
Perishability means that services cannot be saved, stored, returned or resold once provided to
a client. Because services are performances that cannot be stored, service businesses
frequently find it difficult to synchronise supply and demand (Bessom and Jackson 1975,
Thomas 1978). Sometimes too much demand exists and sometimes too little demand exists,
therefore it’s difficult for a company to forecast demand.
In the financial services industry, a lot of back office administrators and auditors are busy
during the first half of the calendar year since most clients’ financial year end is December.
To offset high demand during the busy period, these companies may hire more employees
such as contractors or require staff overtime to maintain the quality of the service provided.
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During the second half of the calendar year, the companies might find themselves with a
staffing surplus with non chargeable time. And the best way to overcome this problem is to
utilise the quiet period to provide staff training, develop client relationship and prompt
service marketing.
Figure 1: Service characteristics and marketing challenges
(Source: Adapted from: Services Marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm, By: Zeithaml, Valerie
A.; Bitner, Mary Jo, McGraw-Hill, 3rd edn.)
Service
characteristics
Marketing implications
Challenges for marketers
Intangible
Services are an act or deed that
cannot be
patented and have few search
qualities
How to sustain differentiation of an
intangible dominant offering. How to
develop brand associations which
help
to re-assure consumers
Heterogeneous
There is a dependence on
employee
action and employee and
consumer
interaction and each consumer
encounter
is unique
How to guarantee a minimum level of
service quality. How to recover poor
service
Inseparable
Customers take part in production
process
How to manage the service delivery
process effectively
Perishability
Services cannot easily be stored
for later
Use
How to employ differential pricing to
match supply and demand and how to
meet peak time demand given finite
resources
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2.3 Service Quality Measurement
Currently in a time of increasing competitiveness and complexity in the global financial
services industry, financial service companies such as Fund Administrators based in Ireland
need to understand “high service quality” might be the ultimate factor to differentiate from
other global financial services locations, thus result in superior performance in terms of
market share, customer loyalty, and improved return on investment. Therefore these firms
can “seek to measure their quality of services as a basis for improvement”. (Conger, Hefley,
Galup, Dattero 2012)
Service quality is a perception of expected versus actual received experiences with an
organization that transcends individual transaction satisfaction (Parasuraman, et al., 1988).
These expectations are formed by service organisations’ past experience, word of mouth, and
marketing. Based on this concept, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) developed the
SERVQUAL model (including five dimensions, namely Reliability, Assurances, Tangibility,
Empathy and Responsiveness) to measure service quality.
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Figure 2: SERVQUAL GAP Model
The SERVQUAL/GAPS Model is used to measure service quality by assessing the expected
versus received service. According to Tate and Evermann (2010), despite its success,
SERVQUAL has come under increasing criticism for lack of conceptual clarity, non-generic
applicability, and difficulty of the original expectations versus perceptions approach. The
problem with this interpretation is that it fails to consider context. For instance, Cronin and
Taylor (1992) pointed out that using service quality performance (SERVPERF, i.e. the
perceived service in SERVUQAL) to measure service quality, produces better results of
reliability, validity, and predictive power than using SERVQUAL.
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Some other studies (Boulding et al., 1993; McAlexander et al., 1994; Parasuraman et al.,
1994; Zeithaml et al., 1996) also maintained that SERVPERF is more accurate than
SERVQUAL in the measurement of service quality, and SERVQUAL can provide better
diagnostic information. However, when applying the model of SERVQUAL to a case study
context e.g. for the purposes of this paper the Irish Financial Services Industry, the concept
becomes clearer when a service expectation divergence/gap can appear between a fund
manager and service provider. The models simplicity is the reason for its success as it can be
applied across many industries.
The model is used to assess the level of service quality of service organisations as shown in
Figure 2. According to the following explanation (ASI Quality Systems, 1992; Curry, 1999;
Luk and Layton, 2002), Gap1, Gap5 and Gap6 are the most important gaps since they have a
direct association with external customers.
Gap 1: Management perception of customers’ expectation: Management does not always
perceive correctly what customers want due to lack of relevant marketing research,
inadequate upward communication and incorrect feedback analysis.
Gap 2: Management perception and service-quality specification: as a result of not
setting a specified performance standard, lack of goal setting and inadequate commitment to
service quality.
Gap 3: Service-quality specifications and service delivery: can be caused by conflicting
standards, poorly trained service personnel, inappropriate control system, and lack of team
work.
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Gap 4: Service delivery and external communications: as a result of not matching
performance to promises, and inadequate horizontal communications.
Gap 5: Perceived service and expected service: this occurs when the consumers’ perceived
services do not match their expectations due to influences by word of mouth communications,
personal needs and past experience from the consumers’ side and the gaps on the service
providers’ side.
Gap 6: Expected service and employee perceptions: is caused by not understanding
consumers’ expectations by front line employees of service providers.
Gap 7: Employee perceptions and management perceptions: this may occur when the
front line employees of the service providers do not have the same perceptions of customer
expectations as the management.
Closing the gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of service performance by
matching or exceeding customer expectations is the key to achieve customer satisfaction.
SERVQUAL uses the RATER metrics to measure the service quality gaps which are
Reliability, Assurances, Tangibility, Empathy and Responsiveness. These metrics are useful
to assess service quality in the fund administration sector. According to Kang & James
(2004), SERVQUAL focuses more on the service delivery process than on other attributes of
service, such as technical dimensions. This is a limitation of the SERQUAL model, although
most models do have flaws. “Problems both large and small can be found with any research
instrument, the service quality instruments all seem to have significant issues about which
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some re-thinking is required” (Conger, Hefley, Galup, Dattero 2012). This is an area where
further study could enhance the SERVQUAL model with a focus on these technical
dimensions. Another area that merits further investigation is whether the RATER metrics can
be applied internally within a service provider and not just between the service provider and
client. “Compared with external service research, there is relatively limited research focused
on internal service quality measurement. This is partly a consequence of the marketing
background of many service quality academics and the multi-disciplinary nature of internal
service.” (Brandon-Jones, A. and Silvestro, R., 2010)
The five dimensions of service quality have been the key focus of many academic and
practical researchers which are stated as follows (van Iwaarden et al., 2003):
Reliability – Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. In the case
of fund administration, the Fund Managers need to know they can rely on the fund back
office or middle office function to dependably and accurately calculate the monthly net assets,
share capital and provide investors’ reports in a timely manner. Timely and accurate monthly
management reports are more reliable than having flashy equipment or systems.
Responsiveness – Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. The Fund
Administrators should be able to provide financial and non-financial information quickly, and
promptly. Emails and phone calls need to be addressed in a timely manner. It’s important for
the fund managers to feel that the administrators are responsive to their requests.
