Does the interactive quality of premium asset management service promote customers’ referral intentions? The moderating effect of customer’s asset size

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the asset size regarding how the level of a bank’s premium asset management service interaction quality influences the referral intention using performance expectation and customer satisfaction as mediators. Design/methodology/approach The study employs data collected from an anonymous survey on 185 customers who visited the PB centers. The study employs confirmatory factor analysis methods following a path analysis and structural equation modeling for testing research hypotheses with stepwise moderating effect test. Findings The results indicate that superiority in interaction quality of premium asset management services has a positive influence on customer satisfaction and performance expectations, and these quality factors also show a positive influence on the intent to maintain relationships and even referral intentions. The results also show that customers with larger asset sizes only have mediocre intentions to refer bank services to people around them. Practical implications Marketing positions, which remain faithful to the asset management obligation to fulfill a stable profit rate through constant interactive processes based on a trusting relationship between the customer and dedicated staff member that forms over time, can be a basis for service quality that can secure mid-to-long-term competition superiority in financial firms that offer asset management services. Originality/value This study focuses on whether interaction factors that form the quality of services for customized premium asset management through the bank’s dedicated staff member have a positive influence on customer satisfaction and referral intentions. Based on this analysis, the authors presented strategic implications on conditions that financial firms must focus on in order to secure competitiveness.