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).
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.
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.
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.
