Internal Positioning Model for Banking Services (Public Sector Banks)

Purpose: Positioning is considered as an effort to have a clear and special position in a competitive market. Hence, the objective of this study was to design and validate an internal positioning model of government-owned banking services. Methodology: This study was applied in terms of purpose and mixed in terms of method (qualitative and quantitative). The research population in the qualitative section included the managers of branches of Keshavarzi, Melli and Maskan banks of Khorasan Razavi Province and university professors in the field of management in 2020. According to the theoretical saturation, 25 people were selected as the sample by purposeful sampling method. The study population in the quantitative section included a small number of heads of branches of the mentioned banks in 2020. According to Krejcie and Morgan Table, 284 people were selected as the sample by simple random sampling method. The research tool in the qualitative section was a semi-structured interview and the research tool in the quantitative section was a researcher-made questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was 0.79. Qualitative data were analyzed by coding method based on grounded theory by software Maxquda and quantitative data were analyzed by structural equation modeling using software PLS2. Findings: The results of internal positioning of government-owned banking services based on grounded theory showed that causal conditions included appropriate appointment, employee evaluation, bank brand position, appropriate workplaces, employee knowledge and information, job promotion of employees, access to officials, job proportionality to salary , job position, job challenge, job progress and training. Confounding conditions included counseling to employees, providing feedback to employees, customer orientation, work conscience, conscientiousness, adequate salary, job independence, learning, job facilities and benefits, physical workplace, social skills of employees and employee focus. Contextual conditions included organizational recognition, attend the meeting, information exchange, fill job class gap between colleagues, organizational creativity, job evaluation, organizational support by managers, responsibility, attention to talents of employees, ability to create environmental adaptation, job attitude, organizational culture, proportionality of individual objectives to organizational objectives, adaptation of individual and organizational values, organization, organizational honesty and encouragement. Categories included bank brand performance, brand commitments, brand loyalty, organizational mission statement, organizational values, motivation, training, and information sharing and employee empowerment. Strategies included bank ethics charter, creating social responsibility in employees, creating a customer-oriented structure, employee support for services, salary differentiation, appropriate reward, job security of employees, creating a bright job future for employees and proper job performance. Consequences included increasing productivity, desired job behavior, creating a sense of belonging and pride in the organization, organizational loyalty, proper accountability of employees and creating a customer-oriented spirit. The results of structural equation modeling showed that all components had a significant effect on the categories and the validity of the model was confirmed. Conclusion: According to the categories of grounded theory and their identified components, planning to improve the internal positioning of services is necessary.