Effective Leadership and Customer Retention in Commercial Banks in South-East, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper has investigated the connection between good leadership and retention of customers in commercial banks in South-East Nigeria. In particular, it attempted to establish the correlation between communication effectiveness and customer satisfaction, study the correlation between communication effectiveness and customer loyalty, evaluate the nexus between decision-making competence and customer satisfaction, and evaluate the relationship between decision-making competence and customer loyalty. The survey research design was used in the study, and a structured questionnaire was used to gather data by administering it to 234 respondents of which 213 that responded to their questions, of whom 91.0 percent of respondents were found to be valid enough to be used. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the hypotheses at 5% level of significance. The results showed that the relationship between all the variables under investigation was significant and positive, which showed that communication effectiveness and decision-making competence are important predictors of both customer satisfaction and loyalty. The paper found out that good leadership behaviors significantly help in retaining customers in commercial banks and advised leaders in the banking sector to improve their communication networks and decision making to augment customer relationships.