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Coming Out of the Niche? Social Banking in Germany: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Characteristics and Market Size

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Abstract

The social banking market constitutes a small but rapidly growing submarket of the global banking sector. Due to an explicit commitment to sustainability, social banking is a segment of banking services which is not exclusively focused on economic performance criteria, but pursues ecological and social goal dimensions on an equal footing. Information on the number and reachability of potential social banking customers is essential for social banks to further promote sustainable consumption in finance. In scientific research, social banking is considered a relatively new field, still lacking empirical analyses regarding the market size and specific consumer behaviour. This study addresses the research gap by generating first insights into the German social banking market. Based on an online survey using an adaptive conjoint analysis, a large data set covering 3537 respondents was compiled. Sample 1 comprises 2896 respondents who are customers of three major social banks in Germany. Sample 2 covers the remaining 641 respondents who represent the German adult population and exclusively buy from conventional banks. Logistic regression modelling reveals that social banking customers differ significantly from their conventional counterparts regarding several socio-demographic, behavioural and psychographic factors. In comparison with conventional banking customers, social banking customers tend to be younger, higher educated and located in larger places of residence. Contrary to existing research on socially responsible investors, they are male to a higher proportion than female. Moreover, social banking customers demonstrate stronger sustainable buying patterns and weaker preferences for financial, but stronger preferences for social return than conventional banking customers. The results further indicate a considerable untapped growth potential for social banks by uncovering a market size ranging between 10 and 26% of the German adult population. Finally, suggestions for marketing strategies and future research are given.

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Notes

  1. The number of customers of the three largest social banks in Germany (GLS Bank, UmweltBank and EthikBank) equalled 175,210 at the end of the first half of 2010 (Handelsblatt 2010). The number of German citizens aged 16 years and above amounted to 69,015 thousand in 2011 (Axel Springer and Bauer Media Group 2011).

  2. In line with a shared understanding in consumer research, the terms ‘ethical’ and ‘sustainable’ are used interchangeably throughout this article.

  3. According to a German comparison portal, the average interest rate for conventional instant access savings accounts with an investment amount of 5000 € stood at 2.2% at the beginning of October 2011 (Franke-Media.net 2015). The corresponding average interest rate offered by social banks stood at around 1.0% (Öko-Test 2010).

  4. The German population covers not only conventional banking customers, but also a minor share of social banking customers. Since it can be assumed that this small group does not affect the fundamental population structure, it is reasonable to compare sample 2 with the German population.

  5. Concerning education, it should be noted that the Chi-square test only just failed to reach significance (p value = 0.059). The respondents of sample 2 might be slightly higher educated on average than the population, indicated by a smaller share of people holding a secondary modern school qualification and larger shares in respect of the remaining higher educational levels. Such a difference could give rise to a selection bias, which should be kept in mind when appreciating the results of the study.

  6. Generally, there are various techniques for market potential estimation (see Waheeduzzaman 2008, for a comparison of different methods). If causality between variables is important, regression modelling demonstrates an approach of good predictive power. In contrast to economists, marketers commonly focus on the consumer when estimating market potential (Waheeduzzaman 2008). It therefore seems appropriate to determine the demand for social banking products based on specific consumer characteristics.

  7. Based on the concept of relative importance within conjoint analysis, a respondent’s values of all four preference variables always add up to 100%.

  8. It should be noted that both classification rates successfully exceed the maximum random distribution probability of 81.9%.

  9. Despite the prevalence of 95% confidence intervals in research, the choice of any confidence level remains arbitrary. Likewise, Cohen (1990) challenges the routine use of 95% confidence intervals and recommends the more frequent use of 80% confidence intervals. A confidence level of 95% (90%) indicates a market size ranging between 7% (8%) and 31% (28%). Thus, the higher the confidence level, the broader the confidence interval and the market size range. A confidence level of 80% appears to be a good compromise between a high level of statistical confidence and a narrow range of market size estimates.

Abbreviations

ACA:

Adaptive conjoint analysis

SRI:

Socially responsible investment or investing

SR investors:

Socially responsible investors

VIF:

Variance inflation factor

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Acknowledgements

The data of this research was collected as part of the project ‘Social Banking Study 2012’ which was conducted in cooperation with zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates and puls Marktforschung. The authors would particularly like to thank Lars Petersen (Alanus University) for valuable methodological discussions and advice, as well as Jacob Hörisch (Alanus University) for his helpful feedback. Furthermore, we would like to thank Leif Jacobs and the two anonymous reviewers who provided useful comments and suggestions.

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  1. Faculty of Economics, Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Villestrasse 3, 53347, Alfter, Germany

    Kathleen Krause & Dirk Battenfeld

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Kathleen Krause declares that she has no conflict of interest. Dirk Battenfeld declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 9.

Table 9 Descriptive statistics of the independent variables for sample 1 and sample 2
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Appendix 2

See Table 10.

Table 10 Comparison of the training subsample of sample 2 with the German population
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Appendix 3

See Table 11.

Table 11 Comparison of the control subsample of sample 2 with the German population
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Appendix 4

See Table 12.

Table 12 Distribution of wealth of the German female population
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Appendix 5

See Table 13.

Table 13 Distribution of wealth of the German male population
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Krause, K., Battenfeld, D. Coming Out of the Niche? Social Banking in Germany: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Characteristics and Market Size. J Bus Ethics 155, 889–911 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3491-9

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