Antecedents to consumers’ disclosing intimacy with service employees

Abstract

The paper presents a model that suggests that four relationship variables traditionally found to affect behavior beneficial to the firm also increase consumers’ disclosing intimacy. Employee benevolence, credibility, image, and consumers’ satisfaction with the relationship to the employee are all proposed to increase intimate disclosures by the consumer. The model is tested in a sample of retail bank customers using structural equation modeling. The findings support the important role of benevolence and image, but do not confirm the hypothesized effects of credibility and satisfaction. The results and managerial implications are discussed and limitations and suggestions for future research presented.

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