The role of persuasion by significant others and engagement in bank-switching intention

Abstract A person’s beliefs in individual abilities, such as self-efficacy or perceived behavioral control, profoundly affect emotion, cognition, and behavior. However, the influence of such beliefs is not apparent in current research on bank-switching intention and behavior. Moreover, the relationship between bank-switching intention and the sources that promote self-efficacy and perceived behavioral control has received even less attention. In a study with a representative sample of 1245 adults in the Norwegian market, we looked at the role of four promotional sources of self-efficacy, i.e., enactive mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological and affective states, in bank-switching intention. In line with past research, we found a negative association between customer satisfaction and bank-switching intention. However, bank-switching intention was positively associated with promoters of self-efficacy in bank-switching behavior, particularly persuasion from significant others and a feeling of engagement. This feeling of engagement also interacted with customer satisfaction on bank-switching intention. Our findings suggest that bank-switching intentions cannot be attributed solely to customer dissatisfaction. They also involve social cognitive aspects promoting individual self-efficacy and human agency. The effects of significant others and internal emotional activation are important when decoding bank-switching intention.