Examining customer engagement and brand loyalty in retail banking: The trustworthiness influence

Purpose: In recent times, there has been a growing research interest in customer engagement; however, there is a paucity of empirical evidence on the drivers and outcomes of customer engagement such as brand loyalty. Furthermore, the customer engagement and brand loyalty literature have paid little attention to trustworthiness, even though it has the potential of explaining customer engagement, brand loyalty and their relationships. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain the drivers of customer engagement and its relationship with brand loyalty in the context of retail banking in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed the survey research design. The authors collected data from retail banking customers in Ghana using the intercept approach. There were 385 respondents. The authors analysed the data using the structural equation modelling approach. Findings: The results show that trustworthiness drives customer engagement which results in brand loyalty. The findings reveal that trustworthiness is defined through integrity, benevolence and ability while customer engagement is defined via emotional engagement, cognitive engagement and behavioural engagement. Originality/value: This study examines the impact of trustworthiness on customer engagement and brand loyalty. It shows the mediating role of customer engagement in the relationship between trustworthiness and brand loyalty.