Customer Prioritization Tactics in the Banking Sector

This chapter explores how customer prioritization tactics, namely core benefit provision, preferential treatment, and status elevation shape multidimensional customer commitment in the retail banking sector through the mediating role of perceived confidence benefits. Drawing on Commitment-Trust Theory, Relationship Marketing Theory, and Service-Dominant Logic, it integrates theoretical perspectives with empirical findings from a survey of 591 Turkish banking customers. Results show that core benefits and preferential treatment enhance perceived confidence benefits, which in turn drive affective, normative, and economic commitment while reducing forced and habitual commitment. Status elevation has limited effects, highlighting the risks of excessive dependence on symbolic recognition. The findings emphasize that prioritization must balance efficiency, fairness, and transparency, positioning trust as the central mechanism for cultivating sustainable, emotionally grounded loyalty in digitally mediated financial services.