An empirical examination of customer advocacy influenced by engagement behaviour and predispositions of FinTech customers in India

Background: The extensive adoption and usage of emerging technologies furthered by the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, has reduced direct face to face communications. New FinTech (financial technology) apps and technologies are flooding the Indian digital payments market and competitors are striving hard to attract and retain their customers. Especially when customer engagement behaviours (CEBs) are digital in nature, it is essential to gauge the intrinsically driven customer motivations which drive a positive CEB. The objective of this paper was to empirically test the influence of customer-based antecedents such as emotions, moral identity, self-concept, communal focus, perceived cost and perceived benefits on non-transactional experiential customer engagement behaviours (CEBs) and CEB’s effect on customer advocacy in the FinTech industry. Methods: Data from 380 financial app users in south India were gathered by administering a survey that captured customer predispositions, CEBs, and customer advocacy. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using smart PLS (partial least squares) 3.0 was applied to test the theoretical model. Results: Results indicate that CEB fully mediates the relationship between self-concept and customer advocacy. The positive CEBs get formed through customer predispositions leading to referral/advocacy behaviours. Conclusions: This paper provides directions for FinTech practitioners, marketers, technologists, and academicians to devise marketing strategies customized to customer needs and factors. This is one of the first research studies to demonstrate and empirically validate the CEB model for the FinTech industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.