Abstract
The difference in purchase behavior between male and female consumers is a well-established narrative because of the considerable differences in their buying preferences and decision-making approaches. Women buyer market for financial products is an untapped yet promising segment, however, beyond certain generic assumptions, very little is known about the consumer behavior patterns, satisfaction, and positive word of mouth (WOM) of women customers related to financial products. Targeting a serving woman as a financial service customer necessitates an understanding of the factors contributing to satisfaction level leading to the positive WOM of female customers. Therefore, this paper is an effort to explore the role of the responsiveness component of service quality and sincerity dimension of brand personality on WOM via customer satisfaction. Using the partial least square method in structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on 183 working women respondents in India, the research results highlighted some interesting findings. Results revealed that brand sincerity directly impacts the WOM of the women customers where achieving satisfaction is not necessary; however, the responsiveness of a financial product does not directly lead to a positive WOM, rather through satisfaction. The research is novel in empirically testing and comparing the role of brand sincerity and responsiveness in generating satisfaction and positive WOM. This study provides insights for the financial product designers and marketers intending to target women-customers, by focusing on the specific consumer behavioral dimensions leading to satisfaction and positive WOM to ensure the product success.
Highlights
The financial sector is one of those sectors where drastic changes have been reported overthe last couple of decades
The research suggested that those unhappy customers who are attended to customers quickly are more prone to convey a positive word of mouth (WOM)
Hypothesis 1 stated that responsiveness has a significant impact on customer satisfaction and was supported by the results (β = 0.342, p = .000) which supported the premise that suggested that the repeated contact and salespersons’ expression of inclination to offer help to customers are pivotal in establishing a satisfied customer relationship (Crosby et al, 1990)
Summary
The financial sector is one of those sectors where drastic changes have been reported overthe last couple of decades. Some of the factors have been studied by various researchers both collectively as to establish an overall picture of the financial brands or separately to identify the specific role each factor plays in defining the personality of products or services; where each dimension has been reported to have a different magnitude impact (Hultman et al, 2015; Ismail & Spinelli, 2012; Madrigal & Boush, 2008; So et al, 2017; Taheri et al, 2018). This study considers the sincerity dimension of brand personality and its role in building customer satisfaction and WOM for customers in financial institutions. The purpose of this research paper is to identify the relationship between brand responsiveness and brand sincerity in the WOM of female customers of the financial products while considering the satisfaction of female customers playing to be a mediating role
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