Correspondence: Anita Goyal, Management Development Institute, Mehrauli Road, Sukhrali, Gurgaon — 122 001, India. Tel: +91 -124 5013050 ext.: 313; Fax: +91 -124 2341189; E-mail: agoyal@mdi.ac.in

¹is presently working as Associate Professor (Marketing) at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India. She has 12 years of experience in academics after being a year in industry. She has an MBA in Marketing Management from University of Poona, India, and a PhD in Services Marketing and Consumer Behaviour from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. She has exposure of teaching and supervising projects at the international level. MDI, Gurgaon, where she is presently working, is a renowned B School getting a consistent ranking among the top five league in India.

Received 24 July 2007; Revised 24 July 2007.

Abstract

The present study aims to understand the significance of supplementary services as nonpersonal sources of information to consumers to handle perceived risk associated with the purchase of credit card services. The impact of supplementary services is particularly studied towards functional risk and psychological risk. The study is based on primary data collected by a survey with the help of a questionnaire administered through personal interviews. It is found that supplementary services can play a significant role in controlling functional and psychological perceived risk associated with credit card services. Marketers of credit cards can enhance the value of services to customers and can thus enhance purchase possibilities by reducing perceived risk through supplementary services that are controllable. Perceived risk in financial services marketing is an important factor from the consumers' point of view for purchase decisions and is also an issue of significance to service marketers. It is an original attempt to examine the relationship between perceived risk and supplementary services.