Managing the reputation of the banking industry after the global financial crisis: Implications of public anger, processing depth and retroactive memory interference for public recall of events

Abstract

The global financial crisis of 2007/2008 devastated the reputation of the UK banking industry. This paper examines possible connections between the depth of an individual's cognitive processing of information about the banking industry's role in the onset of the crisis obtained from UK media (and elsewhere) and the subsequent extent and accuracy of the person's memory of events. Depth of processing was posited to depend on the level of an individual's feelings of anger at the banks' reported behaviour before and during the crisis and on the degree to which a person had suffered financially as a consequence of the crisis. A number of hypotheses were developed on the basis of Nabi's (1999) cognitive functional model and were tested via a survey of 413 members of the public in Greater London. It was further hypothesised that, because media coverage of the banks' involvement in the crisis was largely hostile, many members of the public attributed blame for the crisis mainly to the banks, resulting in extensive feelings of anger and hence deeper cognitive processing.

Keywords:

• banking industry
• reputation management
• anger
• global financial crisis
• information processing
• memory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rita Kottasz

Rita Kottasz is a Reader in Marketing at London Metropolitan University. Rita has published extensively in the areas of arts, heritage and nonprofit marketing.

Roger Bennett

Roger Bennett is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Centre for Research in Marketing at London Metropolitan University. His research interests focus on the marketing communications of nonprofit organisations, branding and the use of emotional imagery in advertising.