Connecting e-customer relationship management and e-loyalty to willingness to recommend a bank service: the sequential mediating roles of e-satisfaction and e-service quality

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of e-customer relationship management (e-CRM) on customer e-loyalty through e-service quality and e-satisfaction. This study also examines how customers’ e-loyalty affects their willingness to recommend a banking service. Design/methodology/approach A total of 372 private bank customers from Chattogram, the second largest and only port city of Bangladesh, were chosen using a convenience sampling technique. Structured equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Findings E-CRM positively impacts e-service quality, customer e-satisfaction and customer e-loyalty. The association between e-CRM and customer e-loyalty is sequentially mediated by e-service quality and e-satisfaction. E-loyalty has a significant influence on willingness to recommend a banking service. Practical implications The findings will help Bangladeshi banks boost the number of prospective customers implementing e-CRM. In addition, mediators between e-CRM and e-loyalty provides managers a new insight on willingness to recommend a banking service. Originality/value The sequential mediation effect of e-service quality and customer e-satisfaction on the connection between e-CRM and e-loyalty represents the unique contribution and enriches the present e-CRM literature, particularly in the Bangladeshi private banking sector.