WHICH DOES DRIVE SWITCHING COSTS IN RETAIL BANKING INDUSTRY; OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE OR SERVICES QUALITY?

The major aim of this study is to investigate and compare the influence of service quality and openness to experience on customers switching costs. Self-administrated survey was used to collect data from bank customers in the UAE. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS.20 was used to test for the hypothesized relationship. The results showed that service quality has a positive and significant relationship with switching costs. However, the personality traits of openness to experience had a negative and significant relationship with switching costs. Bank managers should not keep a higher level of service quality regardless of the type of customers' personality of openness to experience. Bank managers need to investigate the level of this personality in order for them to identify the relational oriented customers