Purchase availability and involvement antecedents among financial products

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer an integrated approach for understanding the relations among the theoretical and operational antecedents of consumer involvement in the context of financial products. The theoretical antecedents of involvement have been conceptualized as the consumer's personal profile, purchase situation, and target product; the operational antecedent includes the purchase availability manipulation. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on a field study among private customers of a leading financial institute and on two experimental designs within lab settings. The independent variables include the theoretical and operational antecedents and the dependent measure comprises the involvement measure. Findings: The findings emphasize that the theoretical antecedents constitute an effective manipulation of involvement, whereas the operational antecedent has only limited effect. Practical implications: Financial managers should consider the type of financial service, distribution channel, social context and advertising medium, in conjunction with the consumer's profile, to increase the overall involvement. Originality/value: The research provides a new view at the way predictions of involvement are formed within the financial context. This view is enabled by including the antecedents of product involvement along with the manipulation of product availability. When these components are considered jointly, a richer set of predictions can be offered than previously conceptualized. To this end, the research calls for a more comprehensive approach for manipulating involvement that bases its activation on the theoretical antecedents.