Loyalty, naivety and powerlessness among Norwegian retail bank customers

Abstract

The quantitative analysis presented in this paper builds on a qualitative focus group study of mobility among bank customers. The main finding from the focus group study was that mobile bank customers had a reflective – often critical − relation to their banks, while the immobile bank customers had an unreflective – often trusting – relation to their banks. The study also resulted in a typology identifying different bank customer orientations. In the present paper, this typology has been operationalized and modified for further quantitative estimation and investigation. Nine different bank orientations are distinguished, and the results indicate that at least two of three bank customers do not regularly monitor their banking terms and conditions. In other words, it is reasonable to believe that the ordinary bank customer is not acting as expected according to the theory of well‐functioning market mechanisms. Resourceful consumers, with high incomes and education levels, tend to be more financially oriented than others. When people with meagre financial resources tend to end up in the more unfavourable banks, this is not solely a result of the banks’ own discrimination of the poor; it is also due to the fact that people with high incomes and education levels are more likely to monitor their banking conditions than people with low incomes, irrespective of whether or not they have bank loans. The quantitative material analysed was collected in February 2007 by computer‐assisted telephone interviews. One thousand randomly selected respondents answered the questions.

The consumer attention deficit syndrome: Consumer choices in complex markets

“…changing interest rates, financial investment products, etc.). Financial products are rightly criticised for being intentionally opaque and complex, and many consumers are not aware that their bank adviser is actually a salesman (Berg, 2008). Today supportive institutions offer transparent price calculators to assist consumers (e.g.…”

Understanding challenges of qualitative research: rhetorical issues and reality traps

“…They are largely based on authors' real-life experiences and aim to provide useful insights for the researchers aspiring to pursue qualitative research. (2007), Hughes et al (2007), Kelemen and Papasolomou (2007), Berg (2008), Branca (2008), Dawes Farquhar et al (2008), Stone (2009), Eriksson and Soderberg (2010) and Gilal et al (2011). Common rationale for interpretivist orientation in these studies was based on the desire to explore (at the time) less-known phenomena of relationship marketing, e-banking and online communications in depth, focusing on the particularities of context-bounded practices and seeking better understanding of these under-researched areas.…”

Analiza elemenata kvaliteta usluga u korporativnom bankarstvu

“…Sporedni efekat je to što zadovoljni korporativni klij enti nisu želeli da posluju sa konkurentskim bankama. Istraživanja o lojalnosti u bankarskom sektoru često su obavljana u marketinškoj literaturi (Lewis & Soureli, 2006;Berg, 2008). Veliki broj studij a o lojalnosti i faktorima, koji vode ka lojalnosti u uslužnom sektoru, evoluirao je iz ispitivanja sprovedenih nad stanovništvom koje posluje sa bankama (Hallowell, 1996).…”

“…doing business with one or more competitor banks at the time. Studies on loyalty in the banking industry have quite frequently been conducted in marketing literature (Lewis & Soureli, 2006;Berg, 2008). In fact, many studies on loyalty and factors leading to loyalty in the services sector actually evolved around surveying banks' retail clients (Hallowell, 1996).…”