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Essays on Transparent IT Support for Asymmetric Client-Advisor Encounters: the Case of Swiss Investment Advisory Services Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2012 Essays on transparent IT support for asymmetric client-advisor encounters: the case of Swiss investment advisory services Nussbaumer, Philipp Abstract: Investment advisory encounters are strained by information, knowledge and interest asymme- tries between client and advisor. These are detrimental to advisory quality and client satisfaction, leading to an unfavorable client perception of investment advisory services. This situation is disadvantageous for both clients and financial service providers. Clients increasingly turn to other information sources and fail to reap advisory services’ potential benefits for their investment decisions; financial service providers fail to exploit personalized advisory services as one the most promising differentiation strategies against competitors and struggle with low client satisfaction and retention. This dissertation suggests a novel approach for these issues: addressing asymmetries in investment advisory encounters with transparent, shared IT artifacts. Hence, it is based on the following thesis: Shared collaborative IT artifacts are a fea- sible and useful means to improve transparency of investment advisory encounters and, thus, to increase client satisfaction. The dissertation supports this thesis along three research essays: Essay I provides an empirical investigation of the status quo of Swiss investment advisory services. It suggests that investment advisory encounters are asymmetric and affected by a lack of transparency regarding the process andits information, leading to poor advisory quality and low client satisfaction. To overcome these issues, the dissertation introduces the solution approach of shared collaborative IT artifacts. While Essay I presents the basic building blocks of such an approach, Essay II and III demonstrate the feasibility of addressing process, information and cost transparency with such artifacts, presenting their underlying design consid- erations as well as their prototypical implementations. Furthermore, they provide experimental evidence of such artifacts’ usefulness – results show that the constructed shared collaborative IT artifacts indeed are useful means to improve transparency in investment a Gespräche zur Anlageberatung zwischen Be- ratern und Kunden sind durch Asymmetrien geprägt, welche sich in Unterschieden der Akteure bezüglich der verfügbaren Informationen, vorhandenem Wissen und verfolgten Interessen zeigen. Diese Ungleich- heiten können zu einer unvorteilhaften Kundenwahrnehmung der Beratungsdienstleistung führen, welche sich insbesondere in gering wahrgenommener Transparenz über Beratungsabläufe und –informationen äußert. Dies wiederum kann sich negativ auf die empfundene Beratungsqualität und Kundenzufriedenheit auswirken. Es zeigt sich, dass diese Situation für Kunden wie Finanzdienstleister nachteilig ist: während erstere sich zur Informationsbeschaffung vermehrt anderen Informationsquellen zuwenden, lassen Finanz- dienstleister das Potential ungenutzt, sich über qualitativ hochwertigere Beratungsleistungen gegenüber den Mitbewerbern zu differenzieren. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht den neuartigen Ansatz, Prob- leme der Asymmetrie in Anlageberatungsgesprächen mit transparenter, geteilter Informationstechnologie (IT) zu begegnen. Sie stützt sich dabei auf folgende These: Geteilte, kooperative IT-Systeme sind prak- tikabel und nützlich, die Transparenz von Anlageberatungsgesprächen zu verbessern und dadurch die Kundenzufriedenheit zu erhöhen. Diese These wird entlang dreier Essays gestützt: Das erste Essay un- tersucht mit empirischen Mitteln den Status quo Schweizer Anlageberatungsdienstleistungen. Aus den Erhebungen wird abgeleitet, dass Anlageberatungsgespräche eine geringe Transparenz bezüglich des Be- ratungsprozesses und der ausgetauschten Informationen aufweisen; dies kann die Beratungsqualität und die Kundenzufriedenheit beeinträchtigen. Um diese Probleme zu adressieren, präsentiert die Arbeit einen Lösungsansatz basierend auf geteilten, kooperativen IT- Systemen. Während Essay I die Bausteine des Ansatzes skizziert, zeigen Essay II und III die Praktikabilität solcher Systeme anhand prototypischer Entwicklungen, welche die Transparenz des Beratungsprozesses und der ausgetauschten Informationen – insbesondere auch bezüglich Kosten – adressieren. Die Essays präsentieren dabei auch experimentelle Nachweise der Nützlichkeit solcher Systeme. Die Resultate zeigen, dass geteilte, kooperative Systeme in der Tat nützliche Mittel darstellen, die Transparenz in Anlageberatungsgesprächen zu erhöhen; eben- falls legen die Evaluationsergebnisse dar, dass die Nutzung solcher Systeme die Kundenzufriedenheit im Vergleich zu traditionellen Anlageberatungssituationen erhöhen kann. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-71962 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Nussbaumer, Philipp. Essays on transparent IT support for asymmetric client-advisor encounters: the case of Swiss investment advisory services. 2012, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics. 2 Essays on Transparent IT Support for Asymmetric Client-Advisor Encounters The Case of Swiss Investment Advisory Services DOCTORAL THESIS for the Degree of a Doctor of Informatics AT THE FACULTY OF ECONOMICS, BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH by PHILIPP NUSSBAUMER from Austria Accepted on the recommendation of PROF. DR. GERHARD SCHWABE PROF. DR. ELAINE M. HUANG 2012 The Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology of the University of Zurich herewith permits the publication of the aforementioned dissertation without expressing any opinion on the views contained therein. Zurich, August 2012 The Vice Dean of the Academic Program in Informatics: Prof. Dr. Harald C. Gall To Sarah Abstract Investment advisory encounters are strained by information, knowledge and interest asymmetries between client and advisor. These are detrimental to advisory quality and client satisfaction, leading to an unfavorable client perception of investment advisory services. This situation is disadvantageous for both clients and financial service providers. Clients increasingly turn to other information sources and fail to reap advisory services’ potential benefits for their investment decisions; financial service providers fail to exploit personalized advisory services as one the most promising differentiation strategies against competitors and struggle with low client satisfaction and retention. This dissertation suggests a novel approach for these issues: addressing asymmetries in investment advisory encounters with transparent, shared IT artifacts. Hence, it is based on the following thesis: Shared collaborative IT artifacts are a feasible and useful means to improve transparency of investment advisory encounters and, thus, to increase client satisfaction. The dissertation supports this thesis along three research essays: Essay I provides an empirical investigation of the status quo of Swiss investment advisory services. It suggests that investment advisory encounters are asymmetric and affected by a lack of transparency regarding the process and its information, leading to poor advisory quality and low client satisfaction. To overcome these issues, the dissertation introduces the solution approach of shared collaborative IT artifacts. While Essay I presents the basic building blocks of such an approach, Essay II and III demonstrate the feasibility of addressing process, information and cost transparency with such artifacts, presenting their underlying design considerations as well as their prototypical implementations. Furthermore, they provide experimental evidence of such artifacts’ usefulness – results show that the constructed shared collaborative IT artifacts indeed are useful means to improve transparency in investment advisory encounters; they also demonstrate that providing such artifacts relates to increased client satisfaction compared to traditional investment advisory encounters. i ii Zusammenfassung Gespräche zur Anlageberatung zwischen Beratern und Kunden sind durch Asymmetrien geprägt, welche sich in Unterschieden der Akteure bezüglich der verfügbaren Informationen, vorhandenem Wissen und verfolgten Interessen zeigen. Diese Ungleichheiten können zu einer unvorteilhaften Kundenwahrnehmung der Beratungsdienstleistung führen, welche sich insbesondere in gering wahrgenommener Transparenz über Beratungsabläufe und –informationen äußert. Dies wiederum kann sich negativ auf die empfundene Beratungsqualität und Kundenzufriedenheit auswirken. Es zeigt sich, dass diese Situation für Kunden wie Finanzdienstleister nachteilig ist: während erstere sich zur Informationsbeschaffung vermehrt anderen Informationsquellen zuwenden, lassen Finanzdienstleister das Potential ungenutzt, sich über qualitativ hochwertigere Beratungsleistungen gegenüber den Mitbewerbern zu differenzieren. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht den neuartigen Ansatz, Probleme der Asymmetrie in Anlageberatungsgesprächen mit transparenter, geteilter Informationstechnologie (IT) zu begegnen. Sie stützt sich dabei auf folgende These: Geteilte, kooperative IT-Systeme sind praktikabel und nützlich, die Transparenz von Anlageberatungsgesprächen zu verbessern und dadurch die Kundenzufriedenheit zu erhöhen. Diese These wird entlang dreier Essays gestützt: Das erste
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