Abstract
The purpose of this article is to study the impact of brand image on consumer trust through empirical investigation in the context of the financial services sector. While trust helps to bind consumers to brands, a strong brand image works like magic in reducing consumers’ risk perception and promoting trust. This study analyses how brand image influences consumers’ trusting intention through operationalising an interdisciplinary brand-trust model. Constructs and measures were drawn from interdisciplinary brand and trust literature and tested through employing EFA, CFA and structural equation modelling. Data were collected through a quantitative survey of 300 financial services consumers. Using the analogy of a magic trick, the study unveils the key role of financial services branding in engendering consumer trust in the ‘pledge’ or ‘prestige’ parts of the trick but not in the ‘turn’. The research contributes to the convergent and mutually inclusive theories of trust and branding as well as services marketing literature. For managers and policymakers in the financial services sector the findings will help them to effectively manage brand image and foster consumers’ trusting intention.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aaker, J.L. (1997) Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research 34 (August): 347–356.
Bagozzi, R.P. and Yi, Y. (1988) On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of Academy of Management Science 16 (1): 74–94.
BBC News (2013) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18671255, accessed 3 January 2015.
Berry, L.L. (2000) Cultivating service brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 28 (1): 128–137.
Brakus, J.J., Schimitt, B.H. and Zarantonello, L. (2009) Brand experience: What is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty? Journal of Marketing 73 (May): 52–68.
Cadogan, J.W., Lee, N., Tarkiainen, A. and Sundqvist, S. (2009) Sales manager and sales team determinants of sales person ethical behaviour. European Journal of Marketing 43 (7/8): 907–937.
Carmines, E.G. and McIver, J.P. (1981) Analyzing models with unobserved variables. In: G.W. Bohrnstedt and E.F. Borgatta (eds.) Social Measurement: Current Issues. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, pp. 63–115.
Chen, Y., Chien, S., Wu, J. and Tsai, P. (2010) Impact of signal and experience on trust and trusting behaviour. Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networks 13 (5): 539–546.
Elliott, R. and Percy, L. (2007) Strategic Brand Management. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ennew, C., Kharouf, H. and Sekhon, H. (2011) Trust in UK financial services: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 16 (1): 65–75.
Ennew, C. and Sekhon, H. (2007) Measuring trust in financial services: The trust index. Consumer Policy Review 17 (2): 2–8.
Farber, D. (2014) When iPhone met world, 7 years ago today, http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/when-iphone-met-world-7-years-ago-today/, accessed 3 January 2015.
Financial Times (2014) Regulators slap $4.3bn fines on six banks in global forex probe. Financial Times 12 November.
Fornell, C. and Larcker, D.F. (1981) Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research 18 (1): 39–50.
Fournier, S. and Yao, J.L. (1997) Reviving brand loyalty: A reconceptualization within the framework of consumer-brand relationships. International Journal of Research in Marketing 14 (5): 451–472.
Gerbing, D.W. and Hamilton, J.G. (1996) Viability of exploratory factor analysis as a precursor to confirmatory factor analysis. Structural Equation Modelling 3 (1): 62–72.
Herzog, H. (1963) Behavioral science concepts for analyzing the consumer. In: P. Bliss (ed.) Marketing and the Behavioral Sciences. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, pp. 76–86.
Hooper, D., Coughlan, J. and Mullen, M.R. (2008) Structural equation modelling: Guidelines for determining model fit. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 6 (1): 53–60.
Hu, L. and Bentler, P.M. (1995) Evaluating model fit. In: R.H. Hoyle (ed.) Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 76–99.
Keller, K.L. (1993) Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing 57 (1): 1–22.
Kotler, P. (1988) Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning and Control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Mayer, R.C., Davis, J.H. and Schoorman, F.D. (1995) An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review 20 (3): 712.
McKnight, D.H. and Chervany, N.L. (2001–2002) What trust means in E-Commerce customer relationships: An interdisciplinary conceptual typology. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 6 (2): 35–59.
McKnight, D.H., Cummings, L.L. and Chervany, N.L. (1998) Initial trust formation in new organisational relationship. Academy of Management Review 23 (3): 473–490.
Moin, S M A, Devlin, J. and McKechnie, S. (2015) Trust in financial services: Impact of institutional trust and dispositional trust on trusting belief. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 20 (2): 91–106.
Nunnally, J.C. (1978) Psychometric Theory, 2nd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Nunnally, J.C. and Bernstein, I.H. (1994) Psychometric Theory, 3rd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rousseau, D.M., Sitkin, S.B., Burt, R.S. and Camerer, C. (1998) Not so different after all: A cross discipline view of trust. Academy of Management Review 23 (3): 393–104.
Shapiro, S.P. (1987) The social control of impersonal trust. American Journal of Sociology 93 (3): 623–658.
Shepherd, D.A. and Sutcliffe, D.A. (2011) Inductive top-down theorising: A source of new theories of organization. Academy of Management Review 36 (2): 361–380.
Sutter, J.D. and Gross, D. (2010) Apple unveils the ‘magical’ iPad. CNN, http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/27/apple.tablet/.
Tan, F.B. and Sutherland, P. (2004) Online consumer trust: A multi-dimensional model. Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations 2 (3): 40–58.
Nolan, C. (dir.) (2006) The Prestige. Touchstone Pictures.
Zucker, L.G. (1986) Production of trust: Institutional sources of economic structure 1840–1920. Research in Organizational Behavior 8 (1): 54.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moin, S., Devlin, J. & McKechnie, S. The magic of branding: The role of ‘pledge’, ‘turn’ and ‘prestige’ in fostering consumer trust in financial services. J Financ Serv Mark 21, 113–126 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/fsm.2016.8
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/fsm.2016.8