Environmental responsability and customers loyalty in retail bank

Abstract

Researchers have suggested the validity of introduction of environmental management to marketing strategies. However, no attention has been given to the prediction of consumers loyalty to banking organizations as a result of their banks’ environmental positioning. The objective of this research is to measure if the perception that a retail bank is environmentally responsible explains the satisfaction, the trust and the attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of costumers. An empirical study of a descriptive nature was developed. Its data was collected by means of a survey sample of 914 checking account holders from a retail bank in Brazil and analyzed by Structural Equation Modelling technique. The customer’s perception of an environmentally responsible retail bank can explain satisfaction and trust. On the other hand, satisfaction was more relevant in estimating attitudinal loyalty than trust. However, neither satisfaction nor trust explained behavioral loyalty.