By Zeferino Nhumaio
Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique, Avenida Julius Nyerere, Nr. 3453 Campus
Universitário Principal, Maputo, Moçambique
Email: numaiomoz@gmail.com
Abstract
Despite the growing adoption of digital banking, understanding how customer participation in value creation translates into sustained customer loyalty remains an important concern for commercial banks, particularly in increasingly competitive digital service environments. This study examined the effect of value co-creation and customer innovativeness on customer loyalty in digital banking. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. The target population comprised individual customers of commercial banks residing in Maputo City and Maputo Province, Mozambique, aged 21 years and above, who actively used digital banking channels at least twice a month. A minimum sample size of 349 respondents was established using the inverse square root method, while convenience sampling was employed to select eligible participants. Data were collected using a structured online questionnaire administered in Portuguese. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), implemented through the seminr package in R. Measurement model assessment and structural relationships were evaluated, with path significance tested using 5,000 bootstrap resamples. The findings revealed that value co-creation had a strong positive effect on customer loyalty (β = 0.577, f² = 0.578, p = .001), while customer innovativeness had a small positive effect but significant (β = 0.177, f² = 0.057, p = .001). However, the moderating effect of customer innovativeness on the relationship between value co-creation and customer loyalty was not statistically significant (β = −0.073, p = .082). The study concluded that value co-creation is a stronger predictor of customer loyalty in digital banking than customer innovativeness, while customer innovativeness does not significantly moderate the relationship between value co-creation and customer loyalty. The study recommended that commercial banks and other digital service providers prioritise customer participation, engagement and collaborative value creation in their service delivery strategies, while treating customer innovativeness as a complementary rather than primary criterion for customer segmentation and loyalty-building initiatives.
Keywords: Customer value co-creation, customer innovativeness, customer loyalty, digital banking, customer engagement, customer participation, digital financial services.
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About Author
Zeferino Carlos Nhumaio is a PhD student in Marketing Management at the Department of Management, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. His research examines customer loyalty in the banking sector, focusing on banks proactive use of digital channels to interact with customers and gather market intelligence. He investigates how customer value co-creation impacts loyalty.
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Citation in APA
Zeferino, C. N. (2026). Effect of Customer Value Co-Creation and Customer Innovativeness on Customer Loyalty in Digital Banking, Maputo. African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 13(3), 1-14. https://arjess.org/social-sciences-research/effect-of-customer-value-co-creation-and-customer-innovativeness-on-customer-loyalty-in-digital-banking-maputo.pdf
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