Money as a symbol in the relationship between financial advisors and their clients: a dyadic study

Purpose The paper aims to examine whether financial advisors can understand the symbols and meaning that investors associate with money and whether such ability plays any role in enhancing the advisor-investor relationship in terms of satisfaction, level of trust, referral propensity and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a dyadic research design. A total of 186 dyads of financial advisors and their clients took part in the study and completed two parallel self-administered questionnaires. Findings The authors found that financial advisors often can detect the emotional associations that their clients attribute to money. Such ability can enhance their relationship with investors. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this study is its exploratory nature and the convenience sampling technique that was adopted. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the main findings further. Practical implications The results have implications for the development of ad-hoc psychological training to enhance the relationship between financial advisors and investors. Understanding the symbolic meanings and the emotions that clients associate with money may be a prerequisite for a financial services company to succeed and be competitive in the sector. Originality/value Despite acknowledging that money is not a neutral object but is layered with symbolic meanings and emotional associations, the behavioral finance literature has so far neglected to study these implications from either a theoretical or a practical point of view. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the symbolic value of money in the financial services industry.