Brand analysis of global and local banks in India: a study of young consumers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived differences in brand analysis dimensions, such as brand-specific association (represented by perceived brand quality, brand price, brand emotional value and brand social value), brand impressions (represented by perceived brand image and general brand awareness) and brand credibility (represented by perceived brand trustworthiness and brand expertise), for young consumers in the context of banking services in India. All three types of banks operating in the Indian market are compared: state-owned banks, private (Indian) banks and global (foreign) banks.

The authors follow a cross-sectional design in this study. A structured questionnaire is created with the help of well-established scales. Reliability and validity tests are performed on all the dimensions of the scale. Exploratory factor analysis, ANOVA and ordinary least squared multiple regression analysis are performed to test the proposed hypotheses empirically.

The authors report significant differences in perceptions among young consumers among the three types of banks for all the dimensions of brand-specific associations, that is, perceived quality, perceived price, perceived brand social value and perceived brand emotional value. The authors find partial support for the hypotheses presented in this study concerning differences in three bank types among young consumers related to general brand impressions and brand credibility.

The results provide insights on the perceptions of the global and local brands among young consumers in the context of the banking industry. This will aid practitioners in assessing the relative position of their brands with respect to their global/local counterparts. These insights would help brand managers to design effective marketing mix strategies to target the young Indian consumers more effectively.

This is the first study that includes the concept of brand credibility along with brand-specific associations and general brand impression in investigating purchase intention of banking services by young consumers.