Incentive schemes in the financial services sector : Moderating effects of relationship norms on customer‐brand relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that new technologies have significantly changed the way that customers interact with their bank. Whilst a trip down to the local branch was mandatory in the past for a customer to do their banking, all that is required now in many situations is simply to send a text message or log on to the internet. However, the idea of exploiting customer competency with new technologies to create new distribution channels has become a double‐edged sword. Although the distance between the bank and its customer is shortened in that direct contact can be established within a matter of seconds with these new technologies, the impact on the customer's perceived relationship with the brand remains an issue of strategic importance that needs to be evaluated. In order to exploit the advantages of technology, a full understanding of the factors and processes involved in the customer‐brand relationship associated with use of self‐service banking channels is necessary. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is an empirical study using bank customers as participants, which was conducted to examine the impact of salient relationship norms on customers' perceptions of their relationship with their bank. Findings – Based on the experiment data, the paper establishes the relevance of the concepts of communal and exchange relationship norms in the study of customer‐brand relationships in a business context. Originality/value – The implications from the findings provide insights into the importance of relationship theory in explaining customers' perceived relationship with brands, specifically that of their bank.