Seminar (Dept. of Finance)

Title: Trust in household financial decisions

Speaker: Hong Zou, Professor, HKU Business School, The University of Hong Kong

Time: 10:00-11:30, Oct 27, 2023(Friday)

Venue: Online Meeting

ABSTRACT:

Households depend on financial advisers for financial planning and transaction services, and consequently, the significant role of financial advisors in steering consumers' financial decisions has long captivated researchers' interest. We study the effects of financial advisor’s facial trustworthiness in consumers’ insurance decisions. We find that an insurance agent’s facial trustworthiness is associated with higher consumer spending on insurance. The result is more pronounced for long-term policies and new customers where trust is more important for reaching a deal, but equally holds for both female and male agents. We find some evidence that trustworthy-looking brings benefits for financial advisors but may cost financial consumers. Our study adds to an emerging literature of studies using facial trustworthiness to measure interpersonal trust in various business settings.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY:

Hong Zou is a full professor in the department of finance at HKU Business School, the University of Hong Kong. His research interests lie in corporate finance, corporate governance, risk management, financial services, and the Chinese financial market. His work has been published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of International and Business Studies and other leading journals.