Arvest Bank To Commission Consumer Sentiment Survey

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) December 12, 2013 10:52 am 106 views 

Bentonville-based Arvest Bank says it will commission a large-scale consumer survey to measure and report economic expectations and consumer sentiment in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The survey will measure respondents’ opinions on their state’s economy for a comparison to the national Surveys of Consumers conducted by the University of Michigan for Thomson/Reuters. Conducted twice a year, the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey results will be shared with local media outlets and Arvest business customers.

The bank has commissioned four universities — the University of Arkansas, Missouri State University, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University — for the survey.

The Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at the Sam M. Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville will lead the research team and The University of Oklahoma’s Public Opinion Learning Laboratory (POLL) will conduct the telephone surveys. CBER, Missouri State University and Oklahoma City University will analyze state level data and provide local analysis of the findings.

The first Arvest Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey data should be ready for public release in Spring 2014 after the survey is conducted in February. The next survey results will be released at the end of the third quarter.

“Arvest Bank has always been attuned to our customers and the markets we serve,” said Jason Kincy, marketing director for Arvest Bank. “To be consumer- and community-focused, we need to know our customers’ views on the economic climate as it applies to Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. This type of survey has long been needed on the state level and will help us better understand the economic mood of our friends and neighbors while providing factual guidance for our small business customers as to the economic mood in their markets.”

The survey will have a sample size of 1,200 with 400 respondents from each state and a margin of error of 4.2 percent at the state level.