The talk will be delivered by Dr. Rahul Govind, University of New South Wales

1 August, 2023, Bengaluru: The Office of Research and Publications (R&P) at IIM Bangalore will host a research seminar on ‘Trust in our genes – The long-term effects of religious persecution on firm-consumer relationships’, to be led by Dr. Rahul Govind, University of New South Wales (Information Systems area), at 2.30 pm on 3rd August 2023, at Classroom P-12. 

Abstract: Trust has been shown to influence commitment and future intentions in relationship marketing, an antecedent to downstream marketing outcomes such as word of mouth and a predecessor to loyalty. The origins and the base levels of trust have always been considered variables that are intrinsic to individual humans in the field of Phycology, and hence in business. Using data from the Spanish Inquisition over a 350-year period and from 16000 respondents from five service industries from the current decade, the researchers find that the level of trust is firmly defined by religious inquisition intensity that was faced by the residents of Spanish municipalities. Using counterfactual and bootstrapping methods, they find that trust ingrained due to years of religious persecution effects multiple marketing variables even today, and this effect is mediated by loyalty.

Speaker Profile: Dr. Rahul Govind specializes in Marketing Analytics. He has a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a BA in Economics from Delhi University. Before joining UNSW, he was faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh and University of Mississippi. He has consulted for various companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Pfizer, Bayer and J.D. Powers. He has published in the elite journals of marketing and management including Journal of Marketing, Management Science and Journal of Marketing Research. Prior to joining academia, he had worked for HCL, Hewlett Packard and Compaq.

Webpage Link: https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/rahul-govind