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The purpose of this paper is to analyze consumer trust during a financial crisis, studying its antecedents and consequences. The perceptions of older and younger consumers are also compared.

The theoretical model of trust formation is tested on a random sample of 634 individuals from the three largest Spanish cities, Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, in a period of economic crisis. Structural equation models were used to verify the global hypothesized relationships. Additionally, the total sample was divided into two groups (younger and older consumers) in order to test the moderating effect of age in the proposed relationships.

In a period of financial crisis, older consumers’ trust is protected by an emotional and experiential shield from the effects of negative news in the surrounding environment. In contrast, trust, although important, is not the core variable for the younger segment, whose preferences are the consequence of a broad range of cognitive and emotional variables.

This research was carried out on financial services. Emotional, relational and experience-linked variables acquire greater importance as the individual gets older, in contrast to more cognitive evaluations. The difference between the younger and the older segments is that the cornerstone of older consumers’ attitudinal loyalty is trust, whereas for younger people, it is positive switching costs or rewards. Further research on the proposed conceptual model across different industries and countries is needed to determine the generalizability and consistency of the findings from this study.

This paper has significant managerial implications. The authors believe that the best strategy for a bank during a period of crisis is to follow a customer-friendly orientation, as in the case of banks that took a long-term vision to look after their brand image. The study draws banking companies’ attention to the importance of using age as a segmentation criterion.

Based on the life-course paradigm, a theoretical model of trust formation is performed. In a period of economic crisis, trust becomes the key variable in determining older consumers’ preferences.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of service quality dimensions as determinants of the emotional and relational behaviours experienced by the client in bank branches in the post-crisis context experienced by Spanish financial institutions.

Data taken from a total of 1,125 customers were analysed through structural equations modelling (EQS6.1) to test the relationships of the proposed model’s variables.

The results support the hypotheses stated, with the exception of the influence of a service quality dimension (servicescape) on emotions during the service. In fact, the dimensions of the service quality of an intangible nature (personnel, outcome and social) are determinants of the positive emotions and relational behaviours of clients around the service provided by the branches. For its part, servicescape quality, of a more tangible nature, exerts indirect influence on the other dimensions that compose the quality of service.

This paper provides senior bank executives established evidence on the degree of influence of the different dimensions in relation to the quality of service in the bank branch. Furthermore, it emphasises the importance of emotional factors during service as essential elements in strengthening customer–staff relationships under a non-transactional dynamic.

This paper has adopted an analytical holistic, theoretical and empirical perspective on the impact of the different dimensions of service quality (servicescape, personnel, outcome and social) as well as to the emotions experienced by banking customers during services and its lasting effect on customer engagement and customer advocacy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of bank branch managers’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in CSR marketing outcomes.

The paper proposes a causal model establishing that managers’ perceptions of CSR influence the perception of CSR held by the branch’s customers, which in turn directly affects customer satisfaction, customer trust, customer engagement and customer loyalty. The unit of analysis in this quantitative study is the bank branch. Two questionnaires were administered: one to branch managers and another to five customers in each branch.

Branch managers’ perceptions of CSR have a marked influence on customers’ perceptions of CSR, which again have a notable impact on the relationship variables studied: customer satisfaction, customer trust, customer engagement and customer loyalty.

The sample was taken from two banks in the same country (Spain) and only five customers were interviewed in each branch. The type of customers analyzed should be taken into account since a growing number of customers now carry out all of their banking online and are less likely to visit their branch.

The results highlight the importance of adopting socially responsible actions not only in the bank as a whole, but also in individual branches. It would, therefore, seem crucial for high level bank executives not only to involve branch managers in the bank’s CSR strategy, but also to empower them to undertake CSR actions that involve the customers and local community with which they interact.

First, the paper reveals the differences within the same organization in the way its CSR strategy is implemented. Second, intermediary figures or supervisors are shown to have a key role in ensuring the organization’s CSR strategy is effective. Third, the study emphasizes the importance of customers’ perception of CSR in achieving the main outcomes of relationship marketing (satisfaction, trust, engagement and loyalty). Fourth, the methodology applied in the study is innovative in its construction of dyads in which the branch is the unit of analysis, enabling a comparison between the manager’s perceptions of CSR with that of five customers from the same branch. Fifth, the findings add to the knowledge of a particularly relevant sector in the recent economic crisis, namely, the retail banking industry.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the customer engagement and customer self-brand connection on customer advocacy and firms’ financial performance. The research focuses on the financial sector and studies a complex organization with a uniform strategy, but which attends the public in different centers (bank branches).

A theoretical model of effects is tested using dyadic methodology, with 225 dyads (bank branch manager – average of five customers). The authors use structural equation modeling (EQS6.1) to test the relationships.

The results corroborate the hypotheses, with the exception of the influence of customer self-brand connection on financial performance. These analyses show that in the banking sector, where the intensive use of new information and technologies has led to a reduction in direct physical contact with the customer, the off-line experience continues to have a notable economic impact. Furthermore, investment in the brand from an experiential approach determines customer advocacy.

The contribution of this paper is twofold. This research analyzes from a theoretical and empirical perspective the impact of the customer engagement and customer self-brand connection on customer advocacy and firms’ financial performance.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the central role of bank customers’ engagement as a mediating variable between customer experience and two non-transactional customer behaviors (advocacy and attitudinal loyalty).

To test the hypothesis, a model was designed with two antecedents of bank customer engagement (satisfaction and customer emotions), and two non-transactional behaviors (attitudinal loyalty and customer advocacy). The model was tested on a sample of 1,790 customers of two Spanish banks.

Results confirm bank customer engagement as the mediating variable between customer experience outcomes and non-transactional behaviors.

Banks should design physical spaces with an atmosphere that will have a positive impact on their customers, and pay particular attention to interactions with contact personnel and other customers present at that moment of truth. The new concept of the branch now being introduced looks to the future, transforming it into a place to attend to and advise customers, and designed to encourage and facilitate a more personal and enduring relationship. This transformation includes longer opening hours and a concept that appears to draw from the store model. Its design is more accessible, more agile, more welcoming and more digital, conceived to attract the customer’s attention from the first moment.

The contribution of this research is related to the analysis from a theoretical and empirical perspective of the mediating impact of customer engagement between customer experience outcomes (satisfaction and emotions during the service) and non-transactional behaviors (advocacy and attitudinal loyalty).

The purpose of this paper is to address the aftermath of the crisis that has plagued the Spanish financial sector from a microeconomic and emotional perspective associated to financial entities’ relationships with their customers.

The authors build a model of effects with structural equation modelling based on the quality of the relationship between financial entities and their customers. The authors identify the different dimensions of quality in the entity’s service provision (tangible quality, functional quality and staff quality) as essential antecedents of the different dimensions of relationship quality (satisfaction, trust and loyalty). Moreover, the authors develop a multi-group analysis to test the moderator effect of age in the proposed model.

The work shows that bank customers have been eminently results driven focusing on functional quality which is a determinant cause of customer satisfaction and trust.

Furthermore the authors consider that the dimensions of service quality are interrelated. Functional quality represents an essential quality in customer service, whereas tangible and personnel qualities act to reinforce functional quality. In turn, qualities based on tangible aspects have positive effects on qualities based on intangible aspects.

Moreover, the results confirm the consideration of related variables to conform the construct of relationship quality: satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Finally, age has been found to have a considerable effect as a moderating variable in the relations.

These results represent a significant change in traditional patterns of bank customer behaviour, and fit in with postulates of a new approach based on individual differences in attitudes, with relevant practical implications.

The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of perceived value on customer loyalty, going into depth in the special case of social value.

A total of 200 personal surveys have been conducted on customers of financial institutions, and structural equation modelling has been used to compare the relationships arising.

The importance of perceived value for consumer loyalty is confirmed, and the core performance of the service received is the main determinant of satisfaction. The effect of social value on customer loyalty is also examined in two ways: as a determinant of the attitude of the individual and as a normative component directly influencing behavioral intentions.

This research was carried out in financial services. Further research of the proposed conceptual model across different industries and countries is needed to determine the generalizability and consistency of this study's findings.

It highlights the interest of social marketing programs and corporate social responsibility to maintain the customer's loyalty.

The contribution of this work is that it makes it possible to study the effect of social value along with other relational variables in consumer loyalty. The authors compared the effect of the core service performance with the social component as an element influencing the individual's attitude and as a normative element.