Search

Purpose: The present study examines the linkage between financial literacy and financial fragility during COVID-19. It further examines if financial literacy has a differential impact on financial fragility based on psychological (financial confidence), economic (wealth) and social (race) factors. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used nationally representative data of the American working age-group. They collated six different datasets collected at different time-periods to conduct the present study. Based on 2,202 observations, they conducted logistic regression analyses to test the proposed relationships. Findings: The authors find that financial literacy reduces the odds of being financially fragile by 9.1%. Furthermore, they find that financially literate consumers having high financial confidence are less financially fragile during COVID-19. Besides, the adverse impact of financial literacy on financial fragility is more for consumers having more than less wealth. The interaction with race is not significant, suggesting that financial literacy cuts across racial boundaries. Practical implications: Financial fragility is an important factor having numerous deleterious consequences. The authors' study found that financial confidence, psychological factor and wealth economic factor enhances the negative effect of financial literacy on financial fragility. Banks and financial institutes can develop mechanisms to infuse confidence in individuals during the pandemic to reduce their financial fragility. Policymakers and governments may increase awareness related to debt management practices and design financial literacy interventions to reduce financial fragility among individuals. Originality/value: The study is one of the initial studies to examine the antecedents of financial fragility. Based on a time-lagged data, the authors' study examines the linkage between financial literacy and financial fragility. Though scholars have investigated financial literacy and its implications, scholarly work in this domain during COVID-19 is at best limited. The study contributes to the literature by testing the effects of boundary conditions that can change financial literacy's impact on financial fragility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the central role of bank customers' engagement as a mediating variable between customer experience and two non-transactional customer behaviors (advocacy and attitudinal loyalty).Design/methodology/approach To test the hypothesis, a model was designed with two antecedents of bank customer engagement (satisfaction and customer emotions), and two non-transactional behaviors (attitudinal loyalty and customer advocacy). The model was tested on a sample of 1,790 customers of two Spanish banks.Findings Results confirm bank customer engagement as the mediating variable between customer experience outcomes and non-transactional behaviors.Practical implications Banks should design physical spaces with an atmosphere that will have a positive impact on their customers, and pay particular attention to interactions with contact personnel and other customers present at that moment of truth. The new concept of the branch now being introduced looks to the future, transforming it into a place to attend to and advise customers, and designed to encourage and facilitate a more personal and enduring relationship. This transformation includes longer opening hours and a concept that appears to draw from the store model. Its design is more accessible, more agile, more welcoming and more digital, conceived to attract the customer's attention from the first moment.Originality/value The contribution of this research is related to the analysis from a theoretical and empirical perspective of the mediating impact of customer engagement between customer experience outcomes (satisfaction and emotions during the service) and non-transactional behaviors (advocacy and attitudinal loyalty). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Complex decision-making is often supported not by single messages but by multichannel communication packages that need to be evaluated in their own right. The purpose of this paper is to present a new analytic approach to this package evaluation task combining textual analysis, functional analysis (FA) and media synchronicity theory. Design/methodology/approach – The authors combine textual analysis, FA and media synchronicity and demonstrate this in a single case analysis of a multichannel communication package offering mortgage information. Findings – When applied to a mortgage communication package for consumers, the evaluation reveals significant problems concerning the contents and timing of mortgage information and the channels chosen to convey it. Research limitations/implications – This paper outlines a new direction for evaluating multichannel consumer information, in that it does not focus on user channel preferences but on channel requirements stemming from the communicative task to be performed. Practical implications – This paper enables designers to optimize the design of multichannel communication packages and its individual components to support customer’s decision-making processes with regards to complex products. Social implications – Improving information to guide complex decision-making processes leads to better informed consumers. Originality/value – Research into effective multichannel communication within marketing is in its infancy. This paper offers a new perspective by focusing on channel requirements stemming from the communicative task rather than consumers’ channel preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose the application of artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict overall bank customer satisfaction and to prioritize influencing factors on customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Data are collected from 436 randomly selected customers at ten different branches of an Iranian bank using a questionnaire consisting of 51 questions. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is done on the collected data to determine those factors that influence customer satisfaction. A multilayer perceptron ANN model is developed using the factor scores from the EFA. The ANN model is trained and validated to predict overall bank customer satisfaction. In addition, a linear regression model is developed to predict customer satisfaction. Prediction accuracy of the ANN model is compared with that of the linear regression model. The developed ANN is then used to compare sensitivity of customer satisfaction to each influencing factor. Findings – Nine different influencing factors are extracted by EFA. The factors include Fees and Loans, Prompt Service, Appearance, Technological Service, Responsiveness, Reliability and Trustworthiness, Employees’ Attitudes and Behaviors, Accessibility to Bank and Availability of Service, and Interest Rates. Training and validation results show that the ANN model has 73 percent higher accuracy compared to the linear regression model in predicting overall bank customer satisfaction. Factor prioritization results show that Fees and Loans, Appearance, and Prompt Service have the highest impact on customer satisfaction, respectively; interest rate and accessibility to bank and availability of service are the least dominant factors influencing overall bank customer satisfaction. Practical implications – This study proposes a more reliable and accurate methodology to predict customer satisfaction when compared with regression-based methods. ANN can also be utilized by bank management systems to prioritize different influencing factors that affect the satisfaction level of bank customers. Originality/value – This paper advances the knowledge on bank customer satisfaction by proposing application of artificial intelligence methods. A case study is discussed and results of the application of an ANN are compared with those of a commonly used statistical regression model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The study considers a five-factor model toward online banking adoption in the context of banking customers in India and validates the proposed model. In addition, the authors consider the impact of validated factors on overall satisfaction of customers. Design/methodology/approach – A five-factor online banking adoption model has been tested for reliability and validity by confirmatory factor analysis. For determining contribution of factors toward overall satisfaction level of banking customers structural equation modeling has been adopted. Four explanatory variables have been used to assess the overall satisfaction level of online banking users. A structured questionnaire incorporating variables identified from literature has been used as survey instrument for the study. Final respondent sample was 280 banking customers. Findings – Trust, Usage Constraint, Ease of Use, Accessibility and Intention to Use as reliable and valid factors determining internet banking adoption among customers in India. Accessibility, Usage Constraints, Intention to Use portrayed strong and significant relationship with overall customer satisfaction. Trust and Ease of Use are relatively weaker and insignificant contributors toward overall customer satisfaction. Originality/value – The existing studies in the context of e-banking in general and online banking in particular have been majorly confined to proposing key drivers toward adoption of such alternate banking mediums. By providing an insight towards satisfaction level of customers adopting online banking the proposed model attempts to fill this gap. As the study relates to banking customers in India, findings will be of particular value to domestic and foreign banking entities looking to leverage technology as a tool to attain stronghold with an emerging economic set-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Customer loyalty is crucial for firms to generate positive returns. Creation of customer loyalty is a challenge for service firms because switching service firms can represent a risk. The purpose of this paper is to examine how wealth managers select and implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) and service innovation strategies to influence customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the related literature indicated that scant studies have determined the meanings and outcomes of CSR and service innovation. Therefore, the roles of CSR and innovation were examined in this study to evaluate how these factors affect customer loyalty in a wealth management context. The authors evaluated customer advocacy, relationship quality, and relationship value as mediating variables, and formulated six hypotheses. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey distributed to wealth management customers in Taiwan. All the hypotheses were verified using a structural equation model and data collected from the respondents. Findings – The results indicated that relationship quality and value are positively related to customer loyalty, and customer advocacy is positively related to both relationship quality and value. In addition, CSR and service innovation are positively related to customer advocacy. Research limitations/implications – This research was limited to collecting data related to specific service providers, and therefore consumers in other countries should be examined to test the robustness of the theoretical model. The results of analyses conducted on other industries and in other countries might differ. Practical implications – In the wealth management service context, CSR and service innovation capabilities contribute to customer advocacy, which can achieve superior relationship quality, relationship value, and customer loyalty. Originality/value – This paper contributes to investigations on the effect of CSR and service innovation on customer loyalty by adopting customer advocacy, relationship quality, and relationship value as mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of Islamic religiosity on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, employing both qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys. Findings – The main findings of the study show that religiosity has an impact on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt. Major religiosity clusters were identified from the sample and these were associated with attitudes toward Islamic banking. Practical implications – The findings of this research are of practical importance for marketers in Islamic banks, as they reflect on the likely role religiosity would play in shaping the attitudes of potential customers toward their products. Thus, marketers can use the religiosity scale in measuring intention to use their banking services. Originality/value – The study was implemented in Egypt, where the volume of research on this topic is very limited; thus the context of the study is of value to researchers and practitioners and it can serve as a base for future studies in the Middle East region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on the two marketing outcomes - corporate reputation (CR) and brand equity (BE), based on the perception of consumers regarding banks in India. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of banking consumers was carried out, resulting in 303 valid responses. In order to address research objectives and test the hypothesis, structural equations modeling has been employed. Findings – Results reveals that CSR activities influence CR and BE directly as well as indirectly. In addition, the mediating role of trust is found to be significant between CSR and CR and CSR and BE. The study shows that CSR activities build consumer trust in a company which in turn positively impacts CR and BE. Research limitations/implications – The findings have important implications for retail banks in India and suggest that CSR activities can help banks in building CR and BE. The hypothesized theoretical framework has been tested in the banking context, so the generalization of findings is limited to the context. Originality/value – This study contributes to literature by highlighting the important role of CSR and its direct and indirect effects on CR and BE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The incidents of customer abuse of frontline service employees during service encounters are increasing which has led to co-destructruction of value. The service strategists makers are struggling hard to frame a holistic picture of such incidents to be able to reduce the number of misbehaviour incidents but still are unable to achieve success. The purpose of this paper is to incorporate a social system perspective to study in detail customer misbehaviour incidents from the perspective of frontline banking employees and customers. Design/methodology/approach – The data from 33 frontline banking employees and 22 customers, 55 in total was collected by structured interviews. The data collection focused a critical incident technique and for the purpose of analysis, thematic analysis was optioned. Findings – The employees and customers both blame each other to trigger a misbehaviour incident during banking transactions. The results reveal a clear communication gap between employees and customers as none of them understand the problems of the other party. The employees think that customers gain power through such incidents while customers believe employees to be ignorant, wasting the time, and lack complete information. Practical implications – The marketing policy makers need to pay respect and complete organisational support to frontline staff working in high contact service firms to cope with misbehaving customers. Originality/value – The study is pioneer in applying a social system perspective to explore employee and customer experiences of misbehaviour incidents during banking service encounters. Furthermore, the study has been first of its type to explore the phenomenon of misbehaviour from a developing country perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between salespeople’s empathy and listening behaviour and the relationship quality (RQ) customers have with their banks, taking into consideration the moderating effect of felt stress (FS) experienced by salespeople. The paper examines specific effects of FS on factors related to a salesperson’s performance. Design/methodology/approach – To examine the proposed model, responses from 150 customers were collected and matched with responses from 25 salespeople working at a major ba ' nk in Chile. The paper analysed the dyadic data gathered using two analysis techniques. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the relationships proposed at the customer level. Moreover, hierarchical linear modelling was used to test the moderating effect of FS, measured at the salesperson level, on the proposed relationships. Findings – The results show that customers’ perceptions of salespeople’s listening behaviour mediate the relationship between customers’ perception of salespeople’s empathy and RQ with the bank. Moreover, the positive relationship between salespeople’s empathy and salespeople’s listening behaviour, and the positive relationship between salesperson’s listening and customer’s RQ with bank are attenuated by the salesperson’s FS. Originality/value – This paper examined the effects of the salesperson’s empathy and listening behaviour on the quality of customer relationships with the bank. Moreover, dyadic data show that such effects are influenced by variables related to the bank’s salespeople, such as FS. The findings show that under high FS conditions, salespeople with high listening skills will have negative effects on their customers’ RQ with the bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the plight of a particular segment of the poor – the working poor – in the USA relative to their exclusion from traditional financial markets and their patronage of the payday loan market; and to propose a framework that offers guidance to law makers in making laws/crafting policies that help the working poor gain better access to credit. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper that reviews the literature on the payday loan market and uses its findings to propose a strategy to ameliorate the plight of the working poor. Findings – The study integrates the findings of studies on the payday loan market with theories of corporate social responsibility. Using these findings the authors develop a framework that can guide policy makers in making policies that address the exclusion of the working poor from financial markets. Research limitations/implications – As a conceptual paper based on theories, the study does not provide empirical validation. The paper develops a framework that could guide policy makers as they consider legislation to address the financial exclusion of the poor, particularly with regard to payday loans. Practical implications – The paper proposes a policy framework to solve the “debt treadmill” problems of the working poor. Social implications – The consequent improvement of the financial conditions of the working poor improves society in general. Originality/value – To the best of the knowledge, this is the first marketing paper that has proposed a structural framework to address the exclusion of the working poor from the credit markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct a cross-disciplinary review of the literature on financial exclusion in order to provide a place where one could have a bird’s eye view of the academic activities that have been happening in the area. Design/methodology/approach – As a literature review, no specific methodology is required. Findings – Researchers in economic geography and urbanization seem to have contributed significantly to the growing literature on financial exclusion. The persistence of the problem despite efforts to combat it calls for innovative thinking on the part of marketing scholars and financial institutions on how to serve the unbanked. Research limitations/implications – The review identifies gaps in the state of current research and provides direction for future research. Practical implications – The study identifies gaps in the literature and provides directions for future research. Social implications – As a literature review, there is only an indirect social implications in the sense that the studies reviewed could be used to impact people’s lives. Originality/value – As a literature review, originality is not an applicable criterion, however, the study provides value to the reader by bringing together disparate studies at one place and by pointing out gaps in the current state of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss how regulatory environment can be a fundamental constraint or lever in defining the scope of operations of a social innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews with top-level executives of pioneers of crowdfunding were run in India and France, two of the three leading countries in this field. Findings – Four main issues rise: choice of legal status, constraints for the operations model, compliance with anti-money laundering measures and challenges in marketing and sustainability. Originality/value – This paper contributes to knowledge advancement in the field of this new funding actor that could challenge the banking system. This is the first paper to explore these regulatory issues and their impact on marketing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into peer-to-peer (P2P) lending which has served as one important tool to mitigate financial exclusion. The main proposition of this research is that P2P platforms, which in many ways resemble auctions, naturally instill competitive mindset among lenders; furthermore, given only limited objective decision criteria, certain borrower personal characteristics fuel interpersonal competition enough to impact lending decisions in suboptimal ways. The two experiments support this proposition. As the result, while P2P lending offers unprecedented financial opportunities to some consumer groups, it may unintentionally exclude others, and even pose threat to the financial well-being of lenders. Design/methodology/approach – Two experiments were used to collect data and are reported here. Rigorous pretesting of manipulation stimuli preceded a pilot (exploratory) and the main experiment. Findings – The authors generally find a significant age bias, where ceteris paribus, younger borrowers are offered lower loan amounts as lenders most likely infer greater risk and lower likelihood to repay loans on time. However, and perhaps more interestingly, when age is not a strong indicator of experience (as in the case with 30 something), the authors repeatedly find evidence of lending decisions driven by interpersonal competition: more attractive and financially successful loan applicants of the same gender as lenders are most likely perceived as a personal threat, decreasing lenders’ confidence, which subsequently results in lower amounts being invested into loans that are possibly the most promising. Originality/value – To the best knowledge, this research is first to demonstrate the impact of interpersonal competition on decision making in the context of P2P lending. Furthermore, this paper contributes to better understanding of P2P lending as a tool to allay financial exclusion, while raising concerns of possible unintended exclusion of certain consumer segments due to the competitive nature of P2P platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of intellectual capital on competitive advantage in banking sector. Further, it also examines the role of innovation as a mediating variable and organisational learning as a moderating variable in intellectual capital and competitive advantage relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Data are collected from 144 branches of 21 public and seven private banks operating in Northern India (Jammu). Three executives (including one manager and two senior employees) from each branch are contacted purposively. Out of 576 questionnaires distributed, 339 questionnaires are returned with response rate of 62.08 per cent. Findings – The study finds that intellectual capital has direct and positive impact on the competitive advantage. It is also verified that innovation fully mediates the relationship between intellectual capital and competitive advantage. Further, the moderating effect of organisational learning on the relationship between intellectual capital and competitive advantage is also confirmed. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to the banking sector of Jammu city only. Only three dimensions of intellectual capital are considered in the present study. Originality/value – The study represents the relationship between intellectual capital and competitive advantage in banking sector. The results extend the understanding of the role of organisational learning and innovation in creating intellectual capital and building sustainable advantages for organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify how need for service, enabling factors and pre-disposing characteristics influences access to service. In addition, the authors seek to examine the moderating influence of pre-disposing variables on the relationship between insurance and health services utilization. Design/methodology/approach – The authors utilize data from a major metropolitan hospital in the USA to test and extend the behavioral model of health care. Findings – Results indicate that insurance and pre-disposing variables have a direct impact on type of health service utilization. However, the insurance effect is found to vary by demographic factors. Research limitations/implications – This paper is limited to secondary data. Future work can incorporate both attitudinal and behavioral measures to obtain a more comprehensive evaluation of services access. Practical implications – The research offers a tactical framework for management to segment consumer markets more effectively. Social implications – Through the framework, management will have the requisite knowledge to target segmented populations based on need, insurance, and pre-disposing variables which will help improve access to services and clinical outcome. Originality/value – The findings of this paper will serve as a basis for future research exploring the influence of insurance on access to services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of subjective norm, relative advantage, simplicity, compatibility and perceived behavioural control on the Islamic home financing adoption. It also examines the effects of subjective norm, relative advantage, simplicity and compatibility on attitude. Analyses of attitude as a mediating factor are also provided. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data from 237 usable questionnaires are employed to test the hypothesized relationships. The proposed hypothesized relationships are examined using partial least squares (PLS). Similarly, PLS is also extended to analyse attitude as a potential mediator for the relationships between subjective norm, relative advantage, simplicity and compatibility with the Islamic home financing adoption. Baron and Kenny's (1986) procedure is used to evaluate the role of attitude as a potential mediating factor in the research's framework. Findings – This study discovers an integrative approach that is valid in the case of Islamic home financing. The paper's results, however, have not supported the effect of compatibility on attitude towards Islamic home financing preference and it is also reported that attitude does not mediate for the relationship between compatibility and the Islamic home financing adoption. Research limitations/implications – This study, however, suffers from three limitations which further stimulate new researches in this area. First, this research does not consider additional measures to capture Islamic home financing adoption. Second, this study discovers attitude does not mediate the relationship between compatibility and the Islamic home financing adoption. Third, there is a possibility that attitude also serves as a moderator, however, but it is presently unconsidered. Practical implications – This study has several implications for Islamic banks to develop proper planning for Islamic home financing products. Those implications are provided. Originality/value – This study is the first research in Islamic home financing's area to integrate two models namely the theory of planned behaviour (the TPB) and the innovation diffusion theory (the IDT) in a single research in order to expound Islamic home financing adoption. This study contributes to the literature by examining an integrative approach for understanding Islamic home financing adoption in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to model customer experience (CE) as a "continuum", labelled customer experience continuum (CEC). The paper adopts a CE quality construct and scale (EXQ) to determine the effect of CE on a bank's marketing outcomes. The paper discusses the study's theoretical and managerial implications, focusing on CE strategy design. Design/methodology/approach – The paper empirically test a scale to measure customer experience quality (EXQ) for a retail bank. The paper interviews customers using a means-end-chain approach and soft-laddering to explore their CE perceptions with the bank. The paper classifies their perceptions into the categories of "brand experience" (pre-purchase), "service experience" (during purchase), and "post-purchase experience". After a confirmatory factor analysis, the paper conducts a survey on a representative customer sample. The paper analyses the survey results with a statistical model based on the partial least squares method. The paper tests three hypotheses first, Customers' perceptions of brand, service provider, and post-purchase experiences have a significant and positive effect on their EXQ, second, EXQ has a significant and positive effect on the marketing outcomes, namely share of wallet, satisfaction, and word-of-mouth, and third, the overall effect of EXQ on marketing outcomes is greater than that of EXQ's individual dimensions. Findings – The results of the statistical analysis support the three hypotheses. Practical implications – Banks should focus their CE strategies on the CEC and not on single encounters, tailoring marketing actions to specific stages in a customer's CE process. Different organisational units interacting with customers should be integrated into CE strategies, and marketing and communication budgets should be allocated according to CEC analysis. The model proposed in this paper enables the measurement of the quality of CE and its impact on marketing outcomes, thus enabling continuous improvement in CE. Originality/value – The research proposes a different view of CE by modelling the interaction between company and customer as a continuum (CEC). It provides further empirical validation of the EXQ scale as a means of measuring CE. It also measures the impact of CE on a bank's marketing outcomes. It discusses the guidelines for designing an effective CE strategy in the banking industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify consumers' resistance and motivational factors affecting the intention of using mobile financial services. The paper also examines the impact of trust in the acceptance of such services. Design/methodology/approach – To empirically apply the conceptual model and test the hypotheses, data are collected through a questionnaire involving 300 Tunisians non-users of mobile financial services and are analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings – The paper identifies one resistance dimension – tradition. The paper also identifies four motivational dimensions – compatibility, trialability, perceived enjoyment and system quality. Tradition has a negative and a significant impact on the intention to use mobile financial services, whereas compatibility, trialability and perceived enjoyment have a positive and a significant impact on intention to use such services. In addition, system quality has a significant and positive impact on trust. Practical implications – These dimensions of consumer resistance and motivation should be viewed as the levers for improving the adoption of mobile financial services. Examining these factors can provide to financial service providers with valuable insights regarding which aspects of the service should be improved in order to implement mobile financial services. Furthermore, improvements in system quality allow firms to increase customer trust. Originality/value – Through a multi-faceted framework, the study extends the literature on innovation acceptance, exploring consumer resistance, motivational factors and customer trust in the context of intention to use mobile financial services. The paper also builds on previous models, especially Rogers theory of innovations' diffusion (2003). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Vietnamese banks have relied in the past on short-term promotional techniques and attractive interest rates instead of developing strong brands. This research investigates how customers' perceptions of bank brands drive their trust and loyalty. It also addresses how customers' experience and their social compliance moderate the impact of their brand perceptions on their trust and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – Customers' perceptions are measured through brand associations based on the bank's functional elements, its personnel and its overall image. A structural equation model linking brand associations to customers' trust and loyalty is tested using data from a sample of 557 Vietnamese bank customers. Findings – The results indicate that the personnel-based brand associations are the strongest driver of trust and have a negative direct impact on loyalty, while functional and corporate-based associations have a stronger impact on loyalty. Trust strongly mediates brand associations' impact on loyalty. In addition, corporate-based associations have a stronger impact on trust and loyalty for customers with little direct experience with the bank and personnel-based associations have a stronger impact for socially compliant customers. Practical implications – The findings indicate how different brand associations can be leveraged to trigger customers' trust and loyalty in the Vietnamese banking sector. Moderating effects of the extent of customers' experience imply that bank brand managers should integrate the customer relationship lifecycle in their segmentation/targeting and in their customer-brand relationship management. Originality/value – This study highlights the potential of branding in the Vietnamese banking industry as a strategy to build strong customer relationships. It also strongly points out the need for brand managers to take into consideration the Vietnamese context and more precisely customers' lack of banking experience and their tendency to social compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between organizational leadership capability and organizational performance in the context of market orientation in Estonian financial services organizations. Design/methodology/approach – A total of eight organizations from the Estonian financial services sector participated in this study: the five largest banks (~95 per cent of the market), the largest leasing organization (~50 per cent of the market) and the two largest insurance companies (~50 per cent of the market). The data used includes: aggregated and non-aggregated evaluations by customers, and aggregated financial data. The methodology combines two approaches for testing the hypotheses: a quantitative OLS regression analysis of the evaluations from 555 customers, and ranking mean values of the aggregated assessments from customers and financial data in quartiles for all eight organizations. Findings – The results of the study reveal a relationship between specific organizational leadership capabilities and organizational performance. Research limitation/implications – The study suggests that the positive relationship between leadership and organizational performance at the organizational level explains how an organization manages in the context of its external environment. However, the results of the authors' investigation are only valid in the Estonian financial services context, and the influence of organizational leadership capability on organizational performance in organizations in other service sectors could differ from these results. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates that organizational leadership capability, expressed as the interaction between the main behavioural principles of an organization marked as organizational orientation and adaptation, has a clear relationship with organizational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual as well as an empirical link between retail banks' activities to protect their customers from third-party fraud, the quality of customer relationships, and customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework is developed linking customer familiarity with and knowledge about fraud prevention measures, relationship quality, and customer loyalty. To empirically test the conceptual framework, data were collected in collaboration with a large German retail bank. Findings – A positive association was found between customer familiarity with and knowledge about fraud prevention measures and the quality of customer relationships as measured by satisfaction, trust, and commitment. The quality of customer relationships, in turn, is positively associated with customer loyalty as measured by intentions to continue their relationship with and cross-buy other products from their bank. Research limitations/implications – The paper focuses on the German retail banking market and uses data from only one bank. Future research may investigate the generalizability of the findings across other banks, as well as other countries. Moreover, future research could address how specific anti-fraud instruments and their communication differentially affect customer satisfaction, trust, and commitment. Practical implications – The results stress the importance of fraud prevention for retail banks and show that besides the financial objective of reducing operating costs, fraud prevention and its effective communication is a meaningful way to improve customer relationship quality and, ultimately, customer loyalty. Originality/value – This is the first academic study to empirically examine the relationship between a retail bank's (communication about) fraud prevention mechanisms and the quality of their customer relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – It has been argued that the insights provided by behavioural economics have profound implications for the study and practice of marketing. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of how such insights help enhance understanding of aspects of marketing and consumer behaviour in financial services markets. Design/methodology/approach – This paper looks at various facets of behavioural economics which it is felt provide particularly important and salient insights in the context of financial services. In particular, it studies loss aversion and prospect theory, status quo bias and defaults, framing and anchoring effects, hyperbolic discounting, availability effect and salience and over-confidence. In doing so, it provides a number of examples from the financial services context which provide insightful and informative insights for both commercial practitioners and policymakers. In each case, relevant phenomena are introduced and explained before providing a number of applications and examples from the financial services domain. Findings – The authors find that the insights afforded by behavioural economics are useful in helping to explain various aspects of consumer behaviour in financial services markets. It is shown that an understanding of the implications of behavioural economics may help in fashioning a choice architecture that is more likely to bring the desired consumer response, from either a commercial or policymaking perspective. Practical implications – This analysis provides important insights for those responsible for the marketing of financial services, policymakers in the financial services domain, third sector agencies seeking to foster greater engagement with financial services and other interested parties. Originality/value – The paper adds value by drawing together various aspects of behavioural economics, providing an analysis of their relevance to financial services marketing and offering numerous examples and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of internal marketing, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors on commercial banks' market orientation. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative survey methodology was adopted to collect data from commercial (non-state owned) banks' employees in Jordan. A sample of 365 employees within seven of 13 Jordanian commercial banks was used. Data were analyzed using AMOS 16.0 to determine the interactions between the various factors. Findings – Empirical findings confirmed that internal marketing, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors had a positive direct effect on banks' market orientation. In addition, organizational commitment had a positive direct effect on organizational citizenship behaviors. Practical implications – Jordanian commercial banks should convert internal marketing as a strategy into their core operations and systems to meet employees' demands and the bank goals. This conversion shall make employees show their sincere organizational commitment so that they can express the attitude of organizational citizenship behaviors that are beneficial for the banks' operations and survival. Originality/value – The paper introduces a new perspective of the associations and interactions that take place between marketing and organizational behavior concepts which affect organizations' market orientation endeavors. While such perspective is considerably new and relevant to general marketing literature, the fact that this paper is one of few papers that focus on internal marketing in Jordan adds to its originality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]