Pham Thi Kim Thanh

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
In the context of rapid digital transformation in the banking sector of developing countries such as Vietnam, maintaining long-term customer value has become a critical challenge. Traditional Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) models, which mainly rely on transactional data, are often insufficient in capturing customer behavior in dynamic digital environments. This study aims to evaluate the integration of Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) into CLV models through the lens of the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework. Specifically, it analyzes how technological, organizational, and environmental contexts influence the implementation of SCRM, and how SCRM, in turn, affects three key components of CLV: customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. Data were collected from a survey of 425 banking professionals in Vietnam in October 2024 and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that SCRM has a positive and statistically significant impact on all three CLV components, with the strongest effect on customer retention (β = 0.325, p < 0.001). The technological (β = 0.181) and organizational (β = 0.198) contexts significantly influence the implementation of SCRM, while the environmental context does not show a meaningful impact. The study provides empirical evidence on the mediating role of SCRM and offers practical recommendations for banks to prioritize internal factors when developing strategies to enhance long-term customer value. As the empirical investigation was limited to the Vietnamese banking sector, the findings should be considered context-specific. To establish broader applicability, future studies should replicate this model in different national or industry contexts.

Acknowledgment
This research is partly funded by Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and University of Finance – Marketing.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study aims to examine how social customer relationship management influences customer lifetime value through the mediating and moderating roles of employee and customer engagement. The research focuses on Vietnam’s banking sector, including state-owned, private joint-stock, and foreign-owned banks. Data were collected through a structured survey targeting 282 bank employees from key departments such as customer service, marketing, and business development, who were selected based on their direct experience with social customer relationship management tools. Results from the Structural Equation Modeling analysis indicate that social customer relationship management significantly enhances customer acquisition (β = 0.162, p = 0.010), retention (β = 0.237, p = 0.000), and expansion (β = 0.251, p = 0.000). Employee engagement acts as both a mediator and moderator, with the strongest moderating effect observed on customer expansion (β = 0.135, p = 0.003). In contrast, customer engagement mediates retention and expansion but does not moderate the relationships. These findings highlight the critical role of employee engagement in maximizing the effectiveness of social customer relationship management strategies and emphasize the importance of engagement-focused initiatives for long-term success in the banking sector.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The shift toward digital banking has transformed how consumers build relationships with financial brands. As banking inter-actions increasingly occur through mobile applications and online platforms, understanding how emotional attachment is converted into customer loyalty has become important in digital banking research. This study aims to examine how the three dimensions of brand love – intimacy, passion, and commitment – influence customer loyalty through online brand experience, and how digital information overload moderates the relationship between online brand experience and customer loyalty. Data were collected from Vietnamese digital banking users through online and offline surveys conducted in June and July 2025. Respondents were required to have used their current digital banking brand for at least one year. After screening 593 responses, 527 valid questionnaires were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results show that intimacy and passion positively affect commitment, with path coefficients of 0.423 and 0.362, respectively. Intimacy, passion, and commitment positively influence online brand experience, with coefficients of 0.342, 0.314, and 0.280, respectively. Online brand experience strongly predicts customer loyalty (β = 0.637) and mediates the effects of intimacy, passion, and commitment on loyalty, with indirect effects of 0.218, 0.200, and 0.178. Digital information overload negatively moderates the online brand experience and loyalty relationship (β = –0.049). The findings confirm that emotional attachment strengthens customer loyalty through online brand experience, whereas excessive digital information weakens this process.

Acknowledgment
This research is partly funded by Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and University of Finance – Marketing.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence in digital banking is transforming how financial institutions manage customer relationships and encourage customer advocacy. However, empirical evidence explaining how artificial intelligence-driven electronic customer relationship management influences brand advocacy through different consumption values remains limited. This study aims to assess the effect of AI-driven electronic customer relationship management on brand advocacy and to examine the mediating roles of consumption values in Vietnam’s digital banking context. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 468 users of digital banking services who had interacted with artificial intelligence-enabled customer service functions, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results show that AI-driven electronic customer relationship management has a positive and statistically significant direct effect on brand advocacy (β = 0.194, p < 0.001). Functional value (β = 0.092, p = 0.030), monetary value (β = 0.347, p < 0.001), epistemic value (β = 0.197, p < 0.001), and social value (β = 0.104, p = 0.010) also positively influence brand advocacy, whereas emotional value does not have a significant effect (β = 0.023, p = 0.703). Monetary value emerges as the strongest predictor of brand advocacy, and the model explains 63.4% of the variance in this construct. The findings indicate that artificial intelligence-enabled relationship management systems strengthen brand advocacy primarily when they deliver tangible economic, informational, and functional benefits to digital banking customers.

Acknowledgment
This research is partly funded by Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and University of Finance – Marketing.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Commercial banks invest heavily in social media to manage customer relationships; however, it remains unclear which components of social CRM capability drive service innovation and through what mechanism. This study aims to determine how each component of social CRM capability – information generation, information dissemination, and market responsiveness – affects service innovation in Vietnamese commercial banks, and to what extent customer knowledge mediates these effects. In May 2026, an online questionnaire was distributed among 800 managers and specialists who operate social media channels and develop services at Vietnamese commercial banks; 372 valid responses were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling. Market responsiveness has the largest direct effect on service innovation (β = 0.225, p < 0.001); information dissemination has a weaker direct effect (β = 0.146, p = 0.010), whereas information generation has no direct effect (β = 0.043, p = 0.418) and operates entirely through customer knowledge (indirect effect = 0.084). Information dissemination carries the largest coefficient on customer knowledge (β = 0.310, p < 0.001), and customer knowledge in turn positively affects service innovation (β = 0.362, p < 0.001). The model explains 35.4% of the variance in customer knowledge and 40.1% of the variance in service innovation. Bootstrap tests show only the advantage of market responsiveness over information generation to be significant. Banks should therefore treat responsiveness and cross-functional dissemination as complements rather than alternatives.

Acknowledgment
This research is partly funded by the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Finance – Marketing.