Factors Affecting the Formation of Word of Mouth Advertising among Bank Customer (Case Study: the branches of Bank Melli in Gilan Province)

Given the changes that have recently occurred in the banking industry of Iran, including the development of private banks, and since state-owned banks have joined the private sector, thecompetition in the industry is growing. In such an environment, keeping current customers and attracting new customers require an efficient and effective management in all the aspects of the bank with an emphasis on marketing management. On the other hand, since Iranian customers donot have enough trust in media advertising and they believe advertisements and commercials do not give true and real information to them, in their purchase decisions, they rely on the information that they have obtained through friends and acquaintances, because they think they are morebelievable. In these circumstances, one of the ways in which banks can differentiate themselvesfrom others and gain a competitive advantage, is the use of word of mouth advertising. Given the importance of this issue, the purpose of this research is to study the factors affecting the formationof word of mouth advertising among bank customers of Bank Melli branches in Gilan Province.A questionnaire was used for data collection and structural equation modeling was used for the data analysis and hypothesis testing. This research is practical in terms of purpose and it is adescriptive survey concerning the nature and method. The results of the research suggest thatcustomer focus, relationship focus, interaction, and staff characteristics have a positive impact on relationship quality. It was also found that relationship quality has a positive impact on relationship continuity and word of mouth advertising. Moreover, the positive influence of relationshipcontinuity on word of mouth advertising was also confirmed.

Keywords:

word of mouth advertising , banking industry , Bank Melli