Perceived sales promotion transparency and customer intention to participate: Insight from student-bank customers in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

While transparency has been proven to be vital in modern marketing, not much studies have been conducted to explore its strength in driving target customers’ interest to participate in sales promotion programmes. To extend empirical studies in this area, this research applied the mixed method to explore and survey the impact of perceived sales promotion transparency on young bank customers’ (students’) intention to participate in a sales promotion programme. Basing on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s guideline and the multidimensional construct perspective of transparency, a three-factor sales promotion transparency model was conceptualized, explored, and applied on 150 students using self-administered structured questionnaire after a one-day focus group interaction involving 25 participants. Using a hypothetical bank sales promotion, the responses of the 25 participants and 140 valid questionnaires were analyzed with descriptive statistical tools and the multiple regression analysis in SPSS 21.0. Findings show that perceived sales promotion transparency significantly and positively impacts students’ intention to participate, and that transparency in sales promotion policy, process, and outcome are significant predictors of intention to participate. The study recommends emphasis on transparency in these critical dimensions as a way of building and sustaining ethical sales promotion practices in the Nigerian banking industry.

KEYWORDS:

• Transparency
• sales promotion
• customer intention
• bank customers

Acknowledgments

I sincerely appreciate the timely and thorough efforts of the two anonymous reviewers and the Deputy Editor in strengthening this paper. I thank Professors Ogwo Ekeoma Ogwo, Aham Anyanwu, Gazie Okpara, Chinedu Ogbuji, my Vice Chancellor - Professor E. Uche Ikonne, my wife (Ihuoma Godswill) and kids for supporting me morally within the period of this study. Glory be to God!

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Godswill Agu Agu

Godswill Agu Agu is an assessed senior lecturer and Head of the Department of Marketing at Abia State University Uturu, Nigeria. He was offered a post-doctoral research scholarship of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa in 2019. His doctoral thesis and current researches are in the areas of online customer complaint behavior, ethical and sustainable consumption.