Switching barriers used to retain retail banking customers: Some empirical evidence from a South American country

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to uncover the dimensions that form the construct of switching barriers for retail banking customers in the Chilean banking industry. Design/methodology/approach - The investigation was divided into three stages: Stage 1: literature and existing research review, Stage 2: qualitative focused interviews, and Stage 3: survey including pre-test, pilot survey, and main survey. Findings - The research results uncovered the existence of a five-factor structure measuring switching barriers. Three factors were associated with positive or more reward-based switching barriers (organizational credibility, value congruency, and relational value) and two factors accounted for negative or punitive switching barriers (difficulties of switching and lack of attractive alternatives). The study also showed that Chilean customers perceive banks as using more punitive switching barriers rather than rewarding ones. Originality/value - The study attempts to validate the findings of past research in the case of South America.