THE IMPACT OF ETHICAL PERCEPTIONS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES (SMEs) ON THEIR BANK SATISFACTION AND SUBSEQUENT WORD OF MOUTH: CASE OF NORTHERN CYPRUS

Competitive advantage and longstanding survival of the banking sector do not depend only on market oriented service production but also on wining public confidence. The crucial condition of wining public confidence is to comply with ethical standards. In this respect, the main aim of this study is to determine the perceived ethical quality of commercial banks from the viewpoint of SMEs in Northern Cyprus. As a summary of the research 21 ethical principles used in the research have been grouped into three factors for which perceived ethical behaviors are not satisfactory. Furthermore, regression analysis reveals that three ethical factors named as “procedural justice”, “assurance” and sensitivity” have an explanatory effect on their bank satisfaction while SMEs? bank satisfaction have an explanatory effect on their word of mouth.