Do women customers love to talk about financial brands? An empirical evidence on the mediated service responsiveness and brand sincerity in creating a positive word of mouth

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.

Keywords

• women customers
• financial products
• consumer behavior
• brand sincerity
• service quality responsiveness
• word of mouth