| Abstract [eng] |
The main purpose of this master thesis is to identify the factors that determine the quality of financial audit services and establish the relationship towards the client loyalty through mediators such as client satisfaction, trust, and the audit fee in the Lithuanian audit service market. The work consists of three main parts: the analysis of literature, the research and its results, conclusion and recommendations. The literature analysis reviews the service quality assessment, defines the key variables, and introduces the relationships between them and their importance to client loyalty. After the literature analysis the author conducted the study on the factors influencing the quality of audit services in Lithuania and examined the relationships between audit service quality towards client loyalty through the mediators in the Lithuanian. 131 respondents have completed a questionnaire. The main purpose of the questionnaire was to identify factors of audit service quality and mediating relationships. Moreover, the results were compared with the previous studies. The results of the research were processed with the SPSS programme batch. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the alignment of the Likert scales. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used. The performed research revealed that the quality of audit services is primarily determined by factors such as empathy, reliability, and assurance Besides, both customer trust and satisfaction fully mediate the relationship between audit service quality and customer loyalty. The audit fee and its perceived value have a partial mediation effect on client loyalty. In conclusion and recommendations, based on the literature review and the results of the performed research, insights regarding the formation of client loyalty in the audit service market are presented. The author believes that the conducted study could provide useful insights for the audit firms seeking to strengthen their competitive advantage by both improving their financial position and retaining or attracting clients. |
