A validation of META-RELQUAL under South African micro-enterprise banking customers

Abstract

Despite previous studies researching META-RELQUAL in various countries, this research appears to be the first to validate META-RELQUAL under micro-enterprises in one of the BRICS countries, namely South Africa. Data were obtained from micro-enterprise banking customers of one of South Africa's largest banks. From the results it could be concluded that the ten constructs comprising META-RELQUAL, namely dependence, commitment, continuity, cooperation, coordination, formalisation, opportunism, satisfaction, specific assets and trust should be viewed as separate constructs contributing to the creation of business relationships, and more specifically relationship quality, under South African micro-enterprise banking customers. This study contributes to existing literature by validating META-RELQUAL under micro-enterprise banking customers within a BRICS context. Banking practitioners will benefit from the research findings by noting the constructs to be focused on to build and maintain relationships with micro-enterprises in an effort to create loyalty and sustain or increase profits.