Purpose - The study investigates different roles (antecedent, mediator
and moderator roles) of customer involvement in rapport and
satisfaction. It is also designed to reveal the comparative impact of
three types of relational benefits (confidential, social and special
treatment benefits) on customer involvement. Design/methodology/approach
- Structural equation modeling (using Amos) is used for analyzing the
data, collected from a survey of 212 sample respondents of the private
commercial banking sector. Findings - Results suggest that customer
involvement does have antecedent and mediated influence on
rapport-satisfaction link while the moderation impact of customer
involvement is not supported. In contrast, social treatment benefit is
found as the most important relational benefit for developing customer
involvement in Bangladesh followed by confidence and special treatment
benefit. Research limitations/implications - Findings will assist bank
management to set effective future strategies and to manage successful
relationships with customers in order to motivate customer satisfaction
with the bank. But the study may suffer from lack of generalization and
poor sample representation as it focuses on a single country
(Bangladesh) and a single industry (banking sector). Originality/value -
The paper for the first time attempts to reveal antecedent, mediator
and moderator role of customer involvement in rapport and satisfaction.
It also identifies the level of importance among three relational
benefits for Bangladeshi bank customers.