Brand trust strongest measured predictor in Vietnamese digital-banking loyalty study

In a study of 302 banking customers in Vietnam, brand trust was the strongest measured predictor of customer loyalty in digital banking. AI marketing, green marketing and brand association also showed positive relationships with loyalty, while perceived greenwashing significantly weakened the positive relationship between green marketing and loyalty. The findings identify trust as the leading measured factor in the proposed model, rather than showing that marketing activities alone determine whether customers remain loyal.

Researchers developed and empirically tested an integrated model linking corporate social responsibility, brand personality, brand association, AI marketing and green marketing to customer loyalty. They positioned brand trust as a key relational mechanism and greenwashing as a boundary condition. Responses from 302 Vietnamese banking customers were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling, which assessed relationships among the model’s measured factors. The analysis found that both corporate social responsibility and brand personality were significantly associated with increased brand trust, with corporate social responsibility exerting a slightly stronger effect.

Brand trust had the largest estimated association with customer loyalty among the factors examined. The model also retained positive relationships between loyalty and AI marketing, green marketing and brand association. This pattern means that perceived trust was the dominant modeled pathway to loyalty, but the results did not reduce loyalty to a single factor. Instead, the study examined how several aspects of a bank’s brand and marketing environment—including its responsibility, personality, associations and use of artificial intelligence and green marketing—corresponded with customers’ evaluations in the proposed loyalty framework.

Perceived greenwashing changed the strength of the green-marketing relationship. Customers who regarded sustainability claims as misleading showed a weaker positive association between green marketing and loyalty, indicating that perceived greenwashing significantly reduced the benefit attributed to green marketing. The finding does not mean that green marketing itself was associated with lower loyalty. Rather, its positive relationship with loyalty depended on the absence of stronger perceptions of misleading environmental communication. Within this model, the authenticity of sustainability claims was therefore important to the effectiveness of green marketing as a contributor to customer loyalty.

The evidence is limited to responses from 302 banking customers in Vietnam, and the study examined a proposed set of relationships using a statistical model. Its findings should consequently not be assumed to apply equally to other countries, banking systems or customer groups, and the estimated relationships do not by themselves demonstrate that modifying a particular factor would cause loyalty to change. The authors suggest that banks seeking stronger customer loyalty should prioritize trust-building, incorporate corporate social responsibility into core operations, use AI to support customer decision-making, and ensure that sustainability claims are consistent with actual practices. The clearest measured result is that trust mattered most, while the contribution of green marketing was reduced when customers perceived greenwashing.

Subject of Research: Brand trust, greenwashing and marketing perceptions in Vietnamese digital-banking customer loyalty

Article Title: Building customer loyalty in digital banking: the roles of brand trust and greenwashing

Article References: Sang, T. M., & Anh, N. Q. (2026). Building customer loyalty in digital banking: the roles of brand trust and greenwashing. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-09414-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-09414-y

Keywords: digital banking, customer loyalty, brand trust, greenwashing, green marketing, AI marketing, corporate social responsibility, brand personality, Vietnam, structural equation modeling, Building, customer