How experiences with trading a company’s stock influence customer attitudes and purchasing behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential spill-over effects from negative (and positive) experiences with trading a company’s stock on shareowner-customers’ emotions and subsequent customer attitudes and behavior. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework that links selling a stock for a loss (or gain), emotions, and customer attitudes and behaviors is developed. The framework is tested with data from a sample of Dutch investors that is analyzed with structural equation modeling through the partial least squares method in SmartPLS. Findings – Selling a stock for a loss vs selling a stock for a gain have different effects on shareowner-customers’ attitudes and behavior toward the company. Losses induce negative emotions which in turn result in lower satisfaction and behavioral loyalty as well as in increased propensity to complain about the company. Investment gains, however, result in more positive emotions which then lead to increased preference of the company whose stocks were traded over its competitors and increased engagement in positive word-of-mouth (WOM). Research limitations/implications – The study is focussed on shareowner-customers’ experiences with stocks of companies active in the consumer industry. Future research could address whether the results generalize to other industries. Practical implications – The findings emphasize the importance of a close collaboration between the marketing and investor relation departments. Complaints of shareowner-customers should be taken seriously and incentives to stimulate repurchases as well as those that encourage positive WOM engagement are recommended. Originality/value – This is the first study to examine possible negative spill-over effects from experiences obtained during stock trading on shareowner-customers’ attitudes and behaviors toward the stock’s company.