Financial planner credibility: the importance of being understood

Therese A. Joiner and Lynne Leveson

International Journal of Financial Services Management, 2006, vol. 1, issue 4, 438-449

Abstract: Within the context of a financial planner offering advice to a client, this study examines the effect of the use of technical language on advice understandability and client perceptions of credibility (i.e., trustworthiness, expertise and likeability). The responses of 185 participants, randomly assigned to view one out of two videotapes (one tape low in the use of technical financial terms, the other high), were analysed. The results indicate that the overuse of technical language in a lay client consultation reduces a client's understanding of the advice offered by the financial planner. The results also show that lower advice understandability negatively affects the client's perceptions of the financial planner's credibility and the client's intention to seek the planner's advice.

Keywords: financial planners; expertise; trustworthiness; likeability; credibility; technical language; financial planning; financial services; financial consultation; comprehension; understanding; client perceptions. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijfsmg:v:1:y:2006:i:4:p:438-449

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