Impact of Empathy on Customer Loyalty through the Mediating Role of Relationship Quality in Retail Banks

This article is to observe the relationship of service providers' empathy on customer loyalty through the relationship quality dimensions namely satisfaction and commitment in retail banks. Data were gathered from the customers of retail banks in Chennai, India using a structured questionnaire. A total of 272 customers provided the data for this study. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the hypothesized relationships. The results of the study show that empathy explains 36 percent and 32 percent of variations in satisfaction and commitment. The results also reveal that satisfaction and commitment is significantly associated with customer loyalty. The results further reveals that satisfaction and commitment is partially mediates in the relationship between empathy and customer loyalty. This paper assesses the impact of empathy on relationship quality dimensions namely satisfaction and commitment among retail bank customers.Thus, this study helps organization in understanding the significance of empathy and relationship quality in building customer loyalty.