Customer switching in retail banking – the need for a change in thinking

Consumer switching between retail bank accounts is relatively low compared to other industries. However, the retail banking industry is subject to a number of strong external forces which have the potential to increase future switching behaviour. It is in this kind of context that there is cause to wonder whether the whole approach to the traditional measurement of loyalty, customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions is sub-optimal. This paper attempts to consider an alternative approach by re-directing our thinking into the customer switching literature and re-evaluating the role of customer inertia. It is hoped that future examinations of this model will highlight the potential benefits of a disaggregated measurement approach to behavioural intentions and customer switching behaviour.