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This study examines the role of celebrity credibility in fostering loyalty and long-term commitment toward the financial service provider (banking services in this study) through the development of trust in the service provider. The relationship combines the commitment-trust theory, the source credibility, and the meaning transfer model.

The proposed model uses online survey data from 855 participants. The data are analyzed using structural equation modeling. The relationship between celebrity credibility, commitment, and loyalty to the service provider is explored, with trust in the service provider acting as a mediator. The profession and gender of celebrities are considered moderators.

Trust in service providers partially mediates the relationship between celebrity credibility, customer loyalty, and commitment. Moderation results across multiple groups show that male and sports celebrities are more persuasive in expertise, and customers find women and movie stars to be more effective endorsers in the attractiveness dimension.

This study focuses only on banking services with data collected from a single country to examine a celebrity’s role as a spokesperson.

Considering the benefits of having a well-known celebrity as a spokesperson for financial services like banking is intriguing. Given the unique characteristics and significant perceived risk associated with financial services, marketers may consider hiring celebrity endorsers to increase tangibility and reduce risk.

The results of this study may provide a deeper understanding of the combined effect of celebrity credibility and trust in financial service providers, which provides tangibility and helps establish a strong customer relationship.

Drawing from the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory, this paper aims to identify unique job demands, job resources and personal resources in the context of Indian women flexpatriates (IWFs) and understand how they manage to perform in their short-term international assignments (SIAs).

This study takes a qualitative approach by conducting in-depth interviews of 15 IWFs.

Thematic analysis reveals dual-role workload, emotional demands and diluted importance of the assignments as job demands; opportunity for professional growth, social support and combination of work and leisure as job resources, and building up of self-esteem and self-efficacy as personal resources. Also, the unique Indian family structure, Indian women's desire to have “me-time” and zeal to strengthen their identity emerge as differentiating factors for IWFs that enhance their performance.

IWFs are enthusiastic to take up SIAs as it gives them opportunity to enhance their career and strengthen their identity. In addition to their willingness to travel, advance planning of SIAs and profiling of women based on marital status, family type and children can be done for selection.

Despite hailing from paternalistic and male-dominating society and facing familial challenges, IWFs find SIAs liberating, which gives them an opportunity to spend some “me-time,” strengthen their identity and enhance their professional growth.

This is the first qualitative study contextualizing flexpatriation with gender and region by studying Indian women professionals.