Social customer relationship management and customer lifecycle value in banking: The mediating and moderating roles of engagement

Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThis 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.