Brand love and customer loyalty in digital banking: The mediating role of online brand experience and the moderating role of digital information overload
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Received December 31, 2025;Accepted May 13, 2026;Published June 29, 2026
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Author(s)Pham Thi Kim ThanhLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9621-6315
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Nguyen Ha ThachLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4502-0564
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Nguyen Thi Minh ThuyLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3309-4500
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Luong Thi Thanh VietLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7251-1175
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Phan Thi HuyenLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4164-2053
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Pham Thi Ngoc DungLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8364-0714
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DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/bbs.21(2).2026.18
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Article InfoVolume 21 2026, Issue #2, pp. 259–274
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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.
- Keywords
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JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)M31, G21, O33
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References58
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Tables6
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Figures1
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- Figure 1. Proposed research model
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- Table 1. Research sample structure (n = 527)
- Table 2. Outer loadings, Cronbach’s Alpha, CR, and AVE
- Table 3. Discriminant validity assessment using the Fornell-Larcker criterion
- Table 4. Collinearity variance inflation factors (VIFs) test
- Table 5. Hypotheses testing
- Table A1. Survey measurements
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Conceptualization
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Luong Thi Thanh Viet
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Funding acquisition
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Luong Thi Thanh Viet, Phan Thi Huyen, Pham Thi Ngoc Dung
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Investigation
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach, Luong Thi Thanh Viet, Phan Thi Huyen, Pham Thi Ngoc Dung
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Methodology
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach, Luong Thi Thanh Viet, Phan Thi Huyen
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Project administration
Pham Thi Kim Thanh
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Resources
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy
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Validation
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Luong Thi Thanh Viet, Phan Thi Huyen, Pham Thi Ngoc Dung
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Writing – original draft
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Luong Thi Thanh Viet, Phan Thi Huyen, Pham Thi Ngoc Dung
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Writing – review & editing
Pham Thi Kim Thanh, Nguyen Ha Thach
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Data curation
Nguyen Ha Thach, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Luong Thi Thanh Viet, Phan Thi Huyen, Pham Thi Ngoc Dung
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Software
Nguyen Ha Thach, Phan Thi Huyen, Pham Thi Ngoc Dung
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Supervision
Nguyen Ha Thach
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Visualization
Nguyen Ha Thach
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Formal Analysis
Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Luong Thi Thanh Viet, Phan Thi Huyen, Pham Thi Ngoc Dung
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Conceptualization
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Experiential marketing strategies used by luxury cosmetics companies
Innovative Marketing Volume 18, 2022 Issue #1 pp. 49-62 Views: 6440 Downloads: 2455 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯThe evolving needs of the consumers in the luxury cosmetic segment require the firms to pique consumer interest. This forces the firms to keep their focus on providing superior quality products and, at the same time, creating a memorable experience. The study is undertaken to provide a better understanding of experience through emotions. This study aims to investigate the strategies of experiential marketing used by luxury cosmetics companies for influencing consumer perception. Thus, the current study examines empirical studies selected using PRISMA guidelines to formulate a critical review of prevailing literature to arrive at the findings of the study. The results show that strategies such as free samples and exclusive distribution influence the probability of usage of products and cater to consumer expectations of exclusive approaches. In addition, the strategies of the online community, gift promotion, flagship stores, service from experts, and showbiz marketing can be used to create a meaningful brand experience. The brand image creation, stories associated with design, innovativeness, and product exclusivity enable the impactful contribution of experiential marketing. Thus, companies using immersive experience through technology should implement strategies like virtual shopping or event marketing for targeting consumers. In conclusion, the strategy of e-word of mouth using various social media platforms, event marketing, and storytelling have been identified to shape the feeling and experience of a consumer to influence attitude towards online shopping and maintain their engagement after a purchase.
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How to convert Millennial consumers to brand evangelists through social media micro-influencers
Innovative Marketing Volume 17, 2021 Issue #2 pp. 18-32 Views: 3772 Downloads: 1769 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯUndoubtedly, in the modern age of digitalization, Millennials, who are considered digital natives, have become a massive target market for salespersons. Changes in the way Millennials think accompanied by an explosion of social media have led to an increased focus on social media influencer marketing in the company sector. To help establish a new marketing paradigm that accounts for these changes, this research aims to conceptualize and investigate the process of building consumer-brand relationships with Millennial consumers through social media micro-influencers. Findings based on structural equation modeling revealed that four core characteristics of social media micro-influencers (i.e., authenticity, the meaning of the influencer, specific content, and secret sharing) were a significant antecedent of brand engagement and brand love, which, in turn, mediated the pathway from social media micro-influencer characteristics to brand evangelism. Understanding what social media micro-influencers mean to Millennials offers the promise of improving brand evangelism through more precise market analysis and market strategy. In the discussion, the paper introduces a three-stage building method towards brand evangelism through social media micro-influencer, including: (1) the stage of selecting influencers; (2) the stage of constructing intense emotional responses to the brand (brand engagement and brand love); and ultimately (3) the stage of becoming a brand evangelist. Lastly, limitations and future directions were discussed.
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Factors that affect customer loyalty in small enterprises
Innovative Marketing Volume 15, 2019 Issue #4 pp. 78-87 Views: 3618 Downloads: 1114 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯThe study was conducted by collecting the data from 608 customers of migrant retailers working in the retail industry of Pretoria West in South Africa in order to identify socioeconomic factors that affect customer loyalty. Data was collected from eligible respondents by using a pre-tested, validated and standardised questionnaire of study that was self-administered by respondents. The study found that about 69% of customers were loyal to their retailers. About 68% of customers had a favorable attitude towards their retailers. About 68% of retailers used appropriate promotional measures for marketing their goods to potential customers. About 69% of retailers provided their customers with satisfactory quality of services. About 67% of customers were loyal to their retailers’ brands. Factor analysis was used for extracting 3 influential predictors of customer loyalty. These factors were entrepreneurial skills, marketing skills, and selling price. The percentage of variance explained by the 3 extracted factors was equal to 92.58%.

