Jeanette Carlsson Hauff and Jonas Nilsson
The purpose of this paper is to verify the existence of a gender unbalance regarding choice of quantitatively oriented masters’ programs at a business school. The aim, further, is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to verify the existence of a gender unbalance regarding choice of quantitatively oriented masters’ programs at a business school. The aim, further, is to analyze variables potentially affecting this unbalance: interest in quantitative matters, perceived competence regarding quantitative subjects and measures of quantitative knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data was collected through a survey of 203 students at a Swedish business school. A measure of quantitative orientation was developed to assess the level of nine masters’ programs at the school. A regression analysis was used to identify the impact of gender and the other explanatory variables.
Findings
The results indicate that there is a gender unbalance: female students choose master programs perceived to be less quantitatively oriented. However, when studying gender together with level of interest, perceived competence and objective knowledge, the direct gender effect disappears. Instead, a strong positive effect of interest in quantitative matters emerges, as does an indirect effect of gender through the mediating variable level of interest.
Practical implications
The dual importance of level of interest influences the pedagogical suggestions made. Interpersonal contact between teacher and student and use of technology are suggested to raise the level of interest. To reduce the indirect effect of gender through interest, a suggestion is made to work with stereotype threats.
Originality/value
The paper addresses a topic of importance: the potential gender unbalance as regards qualitative orientation. It manages to nuance the picture of the importance of gender – and through the introduction of level of interest suggests a productive path forward.
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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature of driving and impeding switching factors by operationalizing the catalyst factor of perceived power among…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature of driving and impeding switching factors by operationalizing the catalyst factor of perceived power among customers. Acknowledging the importance of trust in a financial context, a trust-based framework for the analysis is used. The study explicitly analyzes factors of importance for subsequent switching of banks for empowered customers (i.e. savers) and low-on-power customers (i.e. borrowers).
Design/methodology/approach
The study measures factors driving or impeding switch of service provider, together with measures of trust and power using online survey methods. The sample is intended to focus on savers and borrowers, defined quantitatively as well as perception wise. Through a multi-group SEM analysis, differences between the samples of savers and borrowers are analyzed. The dependent variable was in both cases inclination to switch.
Findings
The paper manages to define differences between empowered and less empowered customers, such as borrowers and savers. The mediating effect of trust prevails only for borrowers: here, the only effect on switching behavior stems from a full mediation of stability through trust. For savers, direct influences of both service failure and lack of involvement on trust are of major importance. The importance of trust, however, is lacking; for the sample of savers, the link between trust and switching behavior is insignificant.
Practical implications
The results may be used as a tool box in order to address consumer switching behavior and mobility in the financial services market. The biggest obstacle for switching banks among savers is the low level of involvement. This has clear implications regarding how to increase switching, e.g., by raising interest. Focusing instead on borrowers, stability of the chosen financial institution turned out to be the most important factor.
Originality/value
This paper introduces a view on consumer switching behavior, taking into account differences regarding service provider relations (empowered savers vs less empowered borrowers) and the importance of trust in these two settings. The paper introduces trust as a mediator between switching behavior and four determinants: stability, personal relations, service failure and internet-related issues, and involvement.
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Jeanette Carlsson Hauff and Jonas Nilsson
During 2020, governments around the world introduced contact-tracing apps to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In order for contact-tracing apps to be efficient tools in combatting…
Abstract
Purpose
During 2020, governments around the world introduced contact-tracing apps to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In order for contact-tracing apps to be efficient tools in combatting pandemics, a significant proportion of the population has to install it. However, in many countries, the success of apps introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic has been limited due to lack of public support. This paper aims to better understand why consumers seem unwilling to install and use a contact-tracing app.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors test a number of determinants hypothesized to influence acceptance of contact-tracing apps based on the theory of privacy calculus (Dinev and Hart, 2006). Both perceived privacy concerns, as well as perceived hedonic, utilitarian and pro-social benefits are included. The hypotheses are tested through SEM analysis on a representative sample of 1,007 Swedish citizens.
Findings
The results indicate significant privacy concerns with using contact-tracing apps. However, this is to some extent offset by perceived hedonic and pro-social positive consequences of using the app. This study further shows that a general positive attitude towards innovation increases acceptance of the app.
Originality/value
The study contributes to research on consumer privacy, both in general in its application of the calculus model but also specifically in the context of contact-tracing apps. Moreover, as the results highlight which aspects that are important for consumers to accept and install an app of this kind, they also represent an important contribution to policymakers in countries around the world.
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Jonas Nilsson and Jeanette Carlsson Hauff
Students in the marketing discipline have been reported to struggle with quantitative methods. This paper aims to focus on whether it is possible to increase student confidence…
Abstract
Purpose
Students in the marketing discipline have been reported to struggle with quantitative methods. This paper aims to focus on whether it is possible to increase student confidence and reduce anxiety with quantitative data analysis even when limited teaching resources are available. It reports on two half-day initiatives to teach quantitative methods that followed the principles of integration of method into a substantive course (as opposed to stand-alone course) and hands-on approach (as opposed to using a theoretical and hands-off approach).
Design/methodology/approach
Over the course of three semesters, 92 students that took part of the sessions answered a survey where they reported their basic understanding, confidence, practical abilities and anxiety with quantitative methods.
Findings
The results indicate significant improvements in self-reported basic understanding, confidence, practical abilities and anxiety. Further analysis indicated that neither gender nor previous statistical background had an impact on perceived benefit with the initiative.
Practical implications
In all, the study indicates that integration and hands-on approaches may be beneficial to reduce anxiety and increase confidence with quantitative data analysis, even when this initiative is limited in time and resources.
Originality/value
The study presents an approach to reducing anxiety and increasing confidence with quantitative data analysis. Teaching initiatives like this may be beneficial in situations when students experience high levels of statistics anxiety.
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Jeanette Carlsson Hauff and Jonas Nilsson
Choosing how to invest one’s assets is one of the more important decisions consumers are faced with. However, determining the objective financial quality of complex investment…
Abstract
Purpose
Choosing how to invest one’s assets is one of the more important decisions consumers are faced with. However, determining the objective financial quality of complex investment products such as mutual funds is not an easy task for consumers. Against this background, this study aims to clarify the potential impact of one, not necessarily rational, cue on consumer perceptions of financial quality in the investment context: the country-of-origin (COO) of the mutual fund or stock.
Design/methodology/approach
Two Web-based experiments are used to test the study’s hypotheses.
Findings
COO is found to impact investors’ evaluation of the financial metrics of mutual funds, both in terms of perceived risk and potential return. Moreover, the results of Experiment 2 show that although a strong financial brand can partially overcome the COO effect, the extent of this effect is moderated by whether the fund utilizes an active or passive management style.
Research limitations/implications
Although mutual fund providers with a strong financial country image (CI) may leverage that image and build on their home country’s brand, providers from countries with a poor financial CI may do well focusing on passive management to minimize negative COO influence.
Originality/value
The results highlight that COO can be an important source of sub-optimal investment decisions. These insights are of high importance for efforts to improve consumer decision-making and for individual service providers.
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Jonas Nilsson, Jeanette Carlsson Hauff and Anders Carlander
In modern societies, consumer well-being is dependent on choices regarding complex services, such as investments, health care, insurance and lending. However, evaluating costs of…
Abstract
Purpose
In modern societies, consumer well-being is dependent on choices regarding complex services, such as investments, health care, insurance and lending. However, evaluating costs of such services is often difficult for consumers due to a combination of limited cognitive resources and complexity of the service. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine to what extent three specific consequences of complexity influence consumer tendencies to make mistakes when evaluating the costs (or price) of complex services.
Design/methodology/approach
Three studies were conducted (survey: n = 153, experiment: n = 332 and conjoint analysis: n = 225), all focusing on how consumers evaluate costs in the complex mutual fund setting.
Findings
The authors find that consumers struggle with estimating and using cost information in decision-making in the complex services setting. Consumers of complex services frequently underestimate the costs over the long-term, may see costs as a signal of service quality and are susceptible to influence from presentation formats when evaluating costs.
Research limitations/implications
The study investigates mutual funds, which is one example of a complex service. In order to get a full picture of how consumers deal with costs in complex setting, future research needs to expand this focus to other types of complex services.
Practical implications
The results have implications for both marketers of complex services and policymakers. For marketers, this paper highlights that competing with a low-cost strategy may be difficult in the complex services setting as consumers may lack the ability to actually evaluate what they pay over the long term. For policymakers, increased simplification of prices may be an attractive option. However, it is important that this simplification is done in a way that increases the possibility to compare prices.
Originality/value
As complexity influences several aspects of decision-making, an understanding of how consumers evaluate costs in complex settings is dependent on taking a multidimensional research approach. This paper makes a novel contribution to the literature on pricing by showing that consumers struggle with multiple aspects when evaluating costs in complex contexts. Understanding these effects is important to policy, as well as to research on the cognitive value of simplicity that is currently gaining traction in marketing research.
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Jeanette Carlsson Hauff, Anders Carlander, Amelie Gamble, Tommy Gärling and Martin Holmen
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how trust in the sender of financial information and a narrative vs fact-related format of the information influence intentions to save…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how trust in the sender of financial information and a narrative vs fact-related format of the information influence intentions to save in a mutual fund.
Design/methodology/approach
In Experiment 1, 186 undergraduates participate and in Experiment 2, 434 Swedish citizens between 18 and 70 years randomly chosen from a consumer panel. In both experiments participants are randomized to two conditions in which they are presented with the same information about a mutual fund in a narrative or a traditional fact-related format. In four different between-groups conditions crossed with information format, pre-tested descriptions of different fictitious banks are presented. The descriptions are combined in a fractional factorial design such that one bank is low in the three trust determinants of competence, benevolence and transparency, whereas the other three banks are high in one of the trust determinants but lower in the others. Ratings are made of the information with respect to how much positive affect the information evokes, interest in the message and intention to save in the mutual fund.
Findings
In both experiments the narrative compared to the fact-based information format increases positive affect, interest and intention to save. Trust in the bank has an independent effect of increasing the intention to save.
Practical implications
The narrative format of financial information may be key to increase involvement in financial choices but needs to be supplemented by a message that reinforces the positive affect and interest evoked by the format.
Originality/value
A demonstration of how a narrative format of financial information and trust in the sender jointly influence intentions to save in a mutual fund.
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Jeanette Carlsson Hauff, Anders Carlander, Amelie Gamble, Tommy Gärling and Martin Holmen
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a narrative compared to a traditional fact-related format of financial information elicits more involved processing of such…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a narrative compared to a traditional fact-related format of financial information elicits more involved processing of such information by consumers and therefore more informed choices of retirement savings.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 394 undergraduates were recruited to three experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants presented with information about a mutual fund were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (narrative format vs fact-related format crossed with optimistic vs pessimistic financial forecast). In both experiments dependent variables were positive affect, emotive response and purchase intention, and in Experiment 2 also scepticism about the information. Involvement and financial knowledge were furthermore measured in Experiment 2. In Experiment 3 information was presented about a savings account. Participants were randomly assigned to either a condition with a narrative or a fact-related information format. The dependent variables were the same as in Experiment 2.
Findings
The research finds support for that information about a financial message in a narrative format results in stronger positive affect, emotive response and purchase intention. No effect of scepticism toward the message is observed. Involvement and financial knowledge tend to interact with format. Mediation analyses support that positive affect induced by the narrative format impacts on emotive response which jointly with positive affect impacts on purchase intention.
Practical implications
The research suggests that a narrative message format may be used in marketing financial products to increase passive consumerś involvement.
Originality/value
The first demonstration of that a narrative format has an effect on processing of financial information.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of trust on financial risk-taking in a pension investment setting. Further: to delineate the effects of varying levels of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of trust on financial risk-taking in a pension investment setting. Further: to delineate the effects of varying levels of individuals’ financial knowledge and involvement on risk-taking, and on the trust-risk-taking relation.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaire to a subsample of Swedish bank customers, thereafter statistical analysis using multiple moderated regression.
Findings
Support the notion of trust being an influential variable in explaining risk-taking, and show that highly knowledgeable and highly involved individuals take on more risk. That individuals defined by knowledge and involvement have a different trust-risk-taking relation, however, not verified.
Research limitations/implications
Adds to the body of research emphasising the importance of “soft”, emotionally tilted input to consumers’ decision making, even concerning financial tasks such as risk-taking. Narrowly defined pension system environment may hamper generalisations since many constructs tested are situation specific.
Practical implications
From a practical perspective, individual investment behaviour is of increasing importance for the individual as retirement saver and for the financial industry in its attempt to tailor-make financial products to its customers. From a legislators’ perspective, the dimensions of knowledge and involvement describe the type of consumer supposedly most vulnerable: the uninterested individual with low levels of financial knowledge.
Originality/value
Tests the importance of trust on choice of risk level in a pension setting and is able to expand previous results into the area of consumer behaviour regarding pensions. The paper further manages to assess the specificities as regards the relation between trust and risk-taking for individuals with varying levels of knowledge and involvement.