Title: Do customer equity drivers affect customer relationship quality and customer relational outcomes in banking?

Authors: Adel A. Al-Wugayan

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business Administration, Kuwait University, Sabah-Al-Salem Campus, State of Kuwait

Abstract: Customer relationship quality (CRQ) and customer relational outcomes (CROs) are two of the most prevalent relationship marketing concepts in the service literature. They are particularly relevant to retail banking where building superior CRQ is key to firms' effort in customer acquisition and retention. However, little is known about whether banks' marketing investments in improving customer equity drivers (CEDs) can enhance the quality and outcome of client-firm relationships. Furthermore, it is still unknown whether previously reported relationship between CEDs, CRQ and CRO hold true in markets with different cultural settings. Hence, this study examines whether CEDs contribute to the quality of customer relationship and the outcomes of these relationship in the context of retail banking in Kuwait. The results obtained from a sample of 844 bank customers showed that CEDs have varied effects on relational quality and outcome variables.

Keywords: customer relationship quality; CRQ; customer relational outcome; CROs; retail banking; value equity; brand equity; relationship equity; satisfaction; trust; commitment; loyalty; word-of-mouth.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2021.115608

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2021 Vol.13 No.1, pp.1 - 29

Received: 17 May 2020
Accepted: 12 Nov 2020
Published online: 11 Jun 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article