Integrating social customer relationship management into customer lifetime value: Empirical evidence from Vietnamese banking

Abstract

In the context of rapid digital transformation in the banking sector of developing countries such as Vietnam, maintaining long-term customer value has become a critical challenge. Traditional Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) models, which mainly rely on transactional data, are often insuffcient in capturing customer behavior in dynamic digital environments. This study aims to evaluate the integration of Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) into CLV models through the lens of the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework. Specifically, it analyzes how technological, organizational, and environmental contexts influence the implementation of SCRM, and how SCRM, in turn, affects three key components of CLV: customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. Data were collected from a survey of 425 banking professionals in Vietnam in October 2024 and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that SCRM has a positive and statistically significant impact on all three CLV components, with the strongest effect on customer retention (β = 0.325, p < 0.001). The technological (β = 0.181) and organizational (β = 0.198) contexts significantly influence the implementation of SCRM, while the environmental context does not show a meaningful impact. The study provides empirical evidence on the mediating role of SCRM and offers practical recommendations for banks to prioritize internal factors when developing strategies to enhance long-term customer value. As the empirical investigation was limited to the Vietnamese banking sector, the findings should be considered context-specific. To establish broader applicability, future studies should replicate this model in different national or industry contexts.