Efficiency, customers’ satisfaction and deposit money banks’ performance in Nigeria

Aim/purpose – The study seeks to explore the technical efficiency of Nigerian banks using production approach and; to establish the relationship that exists between technical efficiency, customers’ satisfaction and bank performance in the face of a volatile economy. Design/methodology/approach – Data used in achieving the research objectives were from both primary and secondary sources. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Structural Equation Model (SEM) were employed in the analysis of data. 600 hundred questionnaires from 18 deposit money banks. Findings – The study reveals that technical efficiency leads to customers’ satisfaction. The findings also show that customers’ satisfaction affects bank performance. Further- more, efficiency influences banks’ financial performance and this indicates that banks that pursue improved financial performance using a singular approach may be fundamentally misguided. Research implications/limitations – The study has important implications because it suggests that Deposit Money Banks should concentrate effort firstly on efficiency before customers’ satisfaction. Bank managers should also seek better way of meeting customers need thereby increasing their customers’ satisfaction and increasing bank financial performance. The study is limited in scope since it does not look at other approaches in measuring bank efficiency; further studies should consider using intermediation, user-cost, asset, modern and value-added model approaches in measuring bank efficiency. Originality/value/contribution – The study focuses solely on deposit money banks in Nigeria and empirically analyses the effect of efficiency, customers’ satisfaction on financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Keywords: Bank efficiency, customers’ satisfaction, bank performance. JEL Classification: C19 G21 G29.