Exploring Customer Experience in Bancassurance: The Role of Awareness, Trust with Bank Reputation as a Moderator in Pakistan's Banking Industry

Abstract

Bancassurance has gained global prominence as a value-added financial service offered by the banking industry. This study investigates the influence of Customer Trust (CT) and Customer Awareness (CA) on Customer Experience in the Bancassurance sector (CEB), with Bank Reputation (BR) serving as a moderating factor. Data was collected from Bancassurance customers of the top three banks in Pakistan, including HBL, UBL, MCB Bank, and ABL, encompassing a total of 400 customer data points (100 from each bank). Smart PLS v.4 was employed for data analysis. The research findings reveal a nuanced relationship among these variables. Initially, the direct association between Customer Trust (CT) and Customer Experience (CEB) (H1) was not statistically significant, suggesting that trust alone may not be a robust predictor of customer experience in the Bancassurance sector. Conversely, Customer Awareness (CA) exhibited a significant positive impact on Customer Experience (CEB) (H2), indicating that heightened awareness positively influences customer experience. Notably, Bank Reputation (BR) emerged as a significant moderator, positively influencing the relationships between both Customer Trust (CT) and Customer Experience (CEB) (H3) and Customer Awareness (CA) and Customer Experience (CEB) (H4). These findings underscore the pivotal role of bank reputation in amplifying the impact of customer trust and awareness on customer experience within the context of Bancassurance.