Changes in the Importance of Bank Attributes Provoked by a Financial Crisis: A Dynamic Analysis of the Uruguayan Case

How the customers react during and before an economic and financial crisis is an important yet scantily researched issue (Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005; Lado et al, 2006). We evaluate the variations in the perceived importance of the bank quality attributes as determinated by a severe shock in the situational context. The particular episode considered here is the collapse of the financial system in Uruguay in June 2002. It was a short but profound crisis; the Uruguayan banking system became insolvent with banking holidays resulting in a significant financial system confidence crisis. The specific goals of this research are two-fold (1) to explore how a shock in the external context can affect the weight perceptions of different service quality attributes, and (2) to measure the persistence of this changes over the time. Data for this study were generated utilising a two-stage, two-period approach and analysed by mixed methodology. The results of the Correspondence analysis of square asymmetric matrices performed suggest that the financial crisis provokes changes in the relative importance of the main attributes.