Omnichannel retailing with brand engagement, trust and loyalty in banking: the moderating role of personal innovativeness

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of integration quality, perceived fluency and assurance quality on brand engagement and trust, and their impacts on brand loyalty in the omnichannel banking setting. It further explores the critical role of personal innovativeness and demographic characteristics as moderating variables for the propositions in the research model.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey of 1,547 respondents was carried out with bank customers located in the three largest cities of Vietnam, who have already used at least two various transactional channels in the past. The results were analyzed by the partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.FindingsThe findings denote that integration quality, perceived fluency and assurance quality significantly influence brand trust. Whereas, brand engagement is only affected by integration quality and perceived fluency. Further, brand engagement and trust are substantiated as critical drivers of brand loyalty in omnichannel banking. Customers with high personal innovativeness produce fewer effects of omnichannel properties on brand engagement and trust than other ones. The research context is found to be a significant moderator for the effect of perceived fluency on brand engagement.Practical implicationsThis study offers several recommendations for bank managers to develop a successful omnichannel strategy that could enhance brand engagement and trust by improving integration quality, maintaining fluency across various channels and assuring security during the transactional process. It suggests various policies to improve the effectiveness of the omnichannel model towards the clients with high innovativeness.Originality/valueThis research extends the social exchange theory (SET) theory by examining the effects of omnichannel properties on brand engagement, trust and loyalty in the banking sector. The moderating role of personal innovativeness and research context is also explored.