Relationship Marketing and Self-Reported Customer Lifetime Value among Customers of a Commercial Bank in Ghana: The Statistical Mediating Role of Customer Engagement
Samuel Bradley Doe Gadekah
Department of Economics and Business, TU Bergakademie Freiberg Akademie Straße 6/EG12, 09599 Freiberg, Germany.
Godwin Kwame Humali
Department of Marketing and Corporate Strategy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Private mail Bag University Post office, Kumasi, Ghana.
Wisdom Sefiamor Adjei
Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Competition in banking increasingly depends on the quality and durability of customer relationships, yet the process linking relationship-oriented practices with longer-term customer value remains context dependent. This study examined associations among relationship marketing, customer engagement, and self-reported customer lifetime value (CLV) among 367 customers of a commercial bank in the Volta Region of Ghana. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multiple regression, and an indirect-effect analysis were applied. Relationship marketing was positively associated with CLV after adjustment for demographic controls (B = 0.154, SE = 0.042, t = 3.668, p < .001), and customer engagement was also positively associated with CLV (B = 0.326, SE = 0.059, t = 5.525, p < .001). In a separate mediation model based on the three focal constructs and unadjusted for demographic covariates, relationship marketing was positively associated with engagement (a = 0.417, SE = 0.030, p < .001), and engagement was positively associated with CLV after adjustment for relationship marketing (b = 0.268, SE = 0.073, p < .001). The estimated indirect effect was 0.112 (SE = 0.032; first-order delta-method 95% CI [0.050, 0.174]), while the residual direct association between relationship marketing and CLV was non-significant (c' = 0.028, SE = 0.052, p = .595). This pattern is consistent with an indirect-only statistical mediation interpretation. Because the study is cross-sectional, the mediation finding is interpreted as an associational pathway rather than evidence of temporal or causal mediation. The findings suggest that relationship-oriented banking practices and active customer engagement are jointly associated with longer-term customer-value outcomes.
Keywords: Relationship marketing, customer engagement, self-reported customer lifetime value, banking, Ghana, customer retention