ASSESSING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AMONG FARMERS AVAILING LOANS FROM ZARAI TARAQIATI BANK LIMITED - R. M. Ayyub; B. Haider; R. Safdar; S. Naeem; M. A. Awan; S. Ayyub (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2022)
The loaning schemes for farmers are considered as one of the main tools towards gearing up the economy in developing countries like Pakistan. However, the farmers are still facing many troubles in availing such facilities in Pakistan. The main objective of this study is to access the satisfaction of those agricultural/Livestock farmers who avail loans from Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL). Perceived service quality and customer satisfaction were measured by using established scales, which were first adopted and then adapted. The data were collected from farmers availing loaning facilities from various branches of ZTBL in the main cities of Punjab. A total of 200 farmers responded to the questionnaires who were approached through convenience sampling. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was used to test the hypotheses. It was found that tangibility (β=0.30) and assurance (β=0.20) were the main predictors of customer satisfaction in the Pakistani context. It was recommended that ZTBL should increase customer satisfaction by introducing such schemes, which mainly have these characteristics. To the best of our knowledge this study is one of the initial studies in the Pakistani context and has great significance for the Pakistani banking sector and livestock farmers. The managerial implications were also given.
Keywords: journal article; Customer satisfaction; Banking sector; ZTBL; Livestock farmers; Service quality