Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the customer engagement and customer self-brand connection on customer advocacy and firms’ financial performance. The research focuses on the financial sector and studies a complex organization with a uniform strategy, but which attends the public in different centers (bank branches). Design/methodology/approach A theoretical model of effects is tested using dyadic methodology, with 225 dyads (bank branch manager – average of five customers). The authors use structural equation modeling (EQS6.1) to test the relationships. Findings The results corroborate the hypotheses, with the exception of the influence of customer self-brand connection on financial performance. These analyses show that in the banking sector, where the intensive use of new information and technologies has led to a reduction in direct physical contact with the customer, the off-line experience continues to have a notable economic impact. Furthermore, investment in the brand from an experiential approach determines customer advocacy. Originality/value The contribution of this paper is twofold. This research analyzes from a theoretical and empirical perspective the impact of the customer engagement and customer self-brand connection on customer advocacy and firms’ financial performance.

Registro de acceso restringido Este recurso no está disponible en acceso abierto por política de la editorial. No obstante, se puede acceder al texto completo desde la Universitat Jaume I o si el usuario cuenta con suscripción. Registre d'accés restringit Aquest recurs no està disponible en accés obert per política de l'editorial. No obstant això, es pot accedir al text complet des de la Universitat Jaume I o si l'usuari compta amb subscripció. Restricted access item This item isn't open access because of publisher's policy. The full--text version is only available from Jaume I University or if the user has a running suscription to the publisher's contents.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the central role of bank customers’ engagement as a mediating variable between customer experience and two non-transactional customer behaviors (advocacy and attitudinal loyalty). Design/methodology/approach To test the hypothesis, a model was designed with two antecedents of bank customer engagement (satisfaction and customer emotions), and two non-transactional behaviors (attitudinal loyalty and customer advocacy). The model was tested on a sample of 1,790 customers of two Spanish banks. Findings Results confirm bank customer engagement as the mediating variable between customer experience outcomes and non-transactional behaviors. Practical implications Banks should design physical spaces with an atmosphere that will have a positive impact on their customers, and pay particular attention to interactions with contact personnel and other customers present at that moment of truth. The new concept of the branch now being introduced looks to the future, transforming it into a place to attend to and advise customers, and designed to encourage and facilitate a more personal and enduring relationship. This transformation includes longer opening hours and a concept that appears to draw from the store model. Its design is more accessible, more agile, more welcoming and more digital, conceived to attract the customer’s attention from the first moment. Originality/value The contribution of this research is related to the analysis from a theoretical and empirical perspective of the mediating impact of customer engagement between customer experience outcomes (satisfaction and emotions during the service) and non-transactional behaviors (advocacy and attitudinal loyalty).

The severe economic crisis in Spain has had a considerable impact on the financial sector and has led to deep and widespread restructuring in the industry. The combination of a vigorous expansion policy and the burst of the housing bubble brought about an economic depression with serious emotional consequences. As a result, customers have had to use their emotional intelligence to manage a range of emotions, many of them negative, and this management has affected their perceived quality of their relationship with their bank. Sobre esta base, in this article desarrollamos un planteamiento teórico inicial en el que se plantea como hipótesis de partida la influencia de customers' emotional intelligence sobre relationship quality. Adicionalmente, se plantea el estudio de las posibles interrelaciones existentes entre las tres variables que conforman the macro-construct of relationship quality, made up of satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Results from a sample of 1125 customers in a study using structural equations models nos permiten confirm all these relationships in a reflection on the need to generate marketing strategies that can maximise customers' positive emotional performance. Banks'more traditional strategies must therefore be reviewed, with efforts particularly focusing on the most tangible aspects of the service, creating emotionally attractive banking environments.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of bank branch managers' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in CSR marketing outcomes. Design/methodology/approach -The paper proposes a causal model establishing that managers' perceptions of CSR influence the perception of CSR held by the branch's customers, which in turn directly affects customer satisfaction, customer trust, customer engagement and customer loyalty. The unit of analysis in this quantitative study is the bank branch. Two questionnaires were administered: one to branch managers and another to five customers in each branch. Findings -Branch managers' perceptions of CSR have a marked influence on customers' perceptions of CSR, which again have a notable impact on the relationship variables studied: customer satisfaction, customer trust, customer engagement and customer loyalty.Research limitations/implications -The sample was taken from two banks in the same country (Spain) and only five customers were interviewed in each branch. The type of customers analyzed should be taken into account since a growing number of customers now carry out all of their banking online and are less likely to visit their branch. Practical implications -The results highlight the importance of adopting socially responsible actions not only in the bank as a whole, but also in individual branches. It would, therefore, seem crucial for high level bank executives not only to involve branch managers in the bank's CSR strategy, but also to empower them to undertake CSR actions that involve the customers and local community with which they interact. Originality/value -First, the paper reveals the differences within the same organization in the way its CSR strategy is implemented. Second, intermediary figures or supervisors are shown to have a key role in ensuring the organization's CSR strategy is effective. Third, the study emphasizes the importance of customers' perception of CSR in achieving the main outcomes of relationship marketing (satisfaction, trust, engagement and loyalty). Fourth, the methodology applied in the study is innovative in its construction of dyads in which the branch is the unit of analysis, enabling a comparison between the manager's perceptions of CSR with that of five customers from the same branch. Fifth, the findings add to the knowledge of a particularly relevant sector in the recent economic crisis, namely, the retail banking industry.