The influence of personal values and demographic variables on customer loyalty in the banking industry

Purpose - Even though personal values are considered an important variable in consumer studies, rarely has it been related to customer loyalty, especially in the banking context and considering the different loyalty phases. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of personal values on loyalty phases in the private banking industry, taking into account the moderating influence of demographic variables. Design/methodology/approach - After developing a theoretical framework based on the relevant literature, a research model is proposed and empirically tested with data from a survey with 891 bank customers from Brazil. Hypotheses of moderation were tested using structural equation modelling technique. Findings - Results suggested that customers that place more importance on growth and achievement as personal values are less loyal to their bank, considering all four stages of loyalty. Moreover, this effect was more pronounced for female, older and high-income consumers, supporting the moderating effect of these demographic variables. Research limitations/implications - One of the limitations was that the sample was not probabilistic. To compensate this issue, the authors have used the approach of splitting the sample and use one for calibration and other for estimation. Another limitation was the small subgroups of high and low education, which might be responsible for the nonsignificant finding, due to low statistical power in the z-test. Future studies should consider using quota samples in order to have sample size greater than 150 cases in each category of variables such as age, education and income. Practical implications - This study emphasizes the relevance of personal values, especially the dimensions of growth/achievement and security/social affiliation, and demographic variables when considering customers' loyalty in the private banking industry. Managers should give different treatment for customers in distinct loyalty stages and with different demographics, thus increasing the customer orientation and segmentation efficacy. Originality/value - The study tests a theoretical model that analyses the influence of two dimensions of personal values on loyalty, with originality on the loyalty phases (from cognitive to action) and the contingent effect of demographic variables, such as gender, age, education and income. Moreover, the model is tested in a sample of private banking customers from an emerging market, i.e., Brazil.