Business cycles influences upon customer cross-buying behavior in the case of financial services

Customer cross-buying behavior (CCBB) still represents a key marketing topic for professionals and academics. Marketing research identified several customer cross-buying determinants during the last few decades. However, some studies have pointed out that research remains silent about potential business cycles influences upon CCBB. Building on business cycles influences upon motivational orientations, this investigation extends previous literature on CCBB performing a longitudinal study on a bancassurance leader database. Combining transactional data and aggregated perceived measure of the economic environment, this research elucidates how business cycles influence CCBB in the case of financial services. The statistical model used, accounts simultaneously for business cycles global effects and unobserved heterogeneity. The results confirm that business cycles, economic contractions and expansions, exercise significant and various influences on CCBB. In addition to overcoming a theoretical gap, findings provide novel insights for practitioners who should consider business cycles when designing cross-selling strategies.