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.

摘要

男性和女性消费者在购买行为上的差异是一个公认的说法，因为他们的购买偏好和决策方法存在很大差异。金融产品的女性买家市场是一个尚未开发但前景广阔的细分市场，然而，除了某些通用假设之外，对与金融产品相关的女性客户的消费者行为模式、满意度和正面口碑 (WOM) 知之甚少。将服务女性定位为金融服务客户需要了解影响满意度的因素，从而导致女性客户的积极口碑。因此，本文试图通过客户满意度来探索服务质量的响应性成分和品牌个性的诚意维度对口碑的作用。对印度 183 名职业女性受访者使用结构方程建模中的偏最小二乘法 (PLS-SEM)，研究结果突出了一些有趣的发现。结果显示，品牌诚意直接影响女性顾客的口碑，而无需达到满意度；然而，金融产品的响应性并不直接导致积极的口碑，而是通过满意度。该研究在实证测试和比较品牌诚意和响应性在产生满意度和积极 WOM 方面的作用方面是新颖的。本研究通过关注导致满意度和积极 WOM 的特定消费者行为维度，为打算针对女性客户的金融产品设计师和营销人员提供见解，以确保产品成功。