Components of a Customer-Based Brand Equity Scale

Ite (2006) stated that companies practicing CSR mainly aim at poverty reduction, prevention of human rights violations and environmental protection. In Vietnam, community responsibility is considered as volunteer activities, targeting disadvantaged people in society, bringing social responsibility to the community to help improve and develop life. Lal Joshi & Gao (2009) examined the effects of community activities, showing that community activities help organizations create good relationships with stakeholders.

Many CSR studies mention the community aspect as a part of CSR. Carroll (1991) measured the community aspect with 05 observed variables of charitable responsibility. The observed variables focus on the obligations of enterprises towards the community such as charity, community development programs and environmental protection. The community aspect according to Pérez et al. (2013) has 6 observed variables covering many issues related to the external contributions of the bank. The contents related to the community aspect are assessed from (csr101-csr105), csr105 is related to environmental protection. Although, some authors emphasize the environmental aspect and consider it as a separate aspect of CSR, this study includes environmental protection as a part of community responsibility because the banking industry is performing services, not directly affecting the natural environment.

The employee aspect of CSR is reflected in activities towards employees (Bayoud et al., 2012). Consider employee-oriented CSR initiatives such as providing a family-like working environment; participating in human resource management; providing a fair salary and bonus system for employees; engaging in open and flexible communication activities with employees; and investing in human resource development (Wood, 1991; Grave & Waddock, 1994 and Davenport, 2000). In addition, companies can fulfill their responsibilities towards employees through efforts to build a diverse workforce. According to the resource-based perspective (RBP), businesses can improve their reputation and financial performance through employee-oriented CSR policies (Pérez & del Bosque, 2012). The observed variables of responsibility to employees according to Mercer (2003) are related to job creation as well as employment opportunities, which are the results of positive CSR activities. Gorigolzarri (2006) suggests that businesses should also create fair opportunities and equal evaluation among employees to encourage individual performance and capacity. Pérez & del Bosque (2012) propose that responsibility to employees is

The bank's responsibility to employees through equal opportunity, career development, training, conflict resolution and provision of social benefits.

The customer aspect of CSR is reflected in providing quality products and services, while providing complete and clear information to help them make decisions before purchasing, customer segmentation, customer care, and customer satisfaction surveys (Bayoud et al. , 2012). Good implementation of CSR towards customers is also a way to enhance reputation, affirm the position of the enterprise in the market, attract investment capital and employees, increase the number of customers, and create market value through customer satisfaction (Brown & Dacin, 1997; Anderson et al. , 2004). The observed variables focus on customer-oriented activities, measuring the level of honest communication of all types of products and services and managing customer complaints. According to Gorigolzarri (2006), the relationship between businesses and customers should be based on three issues: transparent information, discipline and development of new products and services. The customer aspect includes initiatives to provide products and services at competitive prices, satisfy customer needs and measure that satisfaction. These variables are based on the research of Maignan et al. (1999). Then, Pérez et al. (2013) experimented for the banking industry with 05 observed variables measuring the level of dedication to resolving customer complaints and inquiries, the level of honesty with customers, the level of providing complete information about products and services to customers, banks consider customer satisfaction as a criterion for improving products and services and banks try to grasp customer needs.

Shareholder aspect of CSR: The observed variables focus on responsibilities towards shareholders. The shareholder aspect is measured through four observed variables: the bank strives to maximize profits, strictly manages all types of costs incurred, aims at sustainable development and is honest about its operations with shareholders and the board of supervisors. These variables are specifically aimed at assessing the ability to generate profits and provide transparent information, which are the main responsibilities of any commercial joint stock bank towards shareholders. Pérez et al. (2013) argue that the first responsibility of a business is to make a profit in a competitive market. Gorigolzarri (2006) believes that a company must make a profit in order to create benefits for the community in the long term.

The general aspect of CSR affects ethical and legal issues such as compliance with laws, compliance with ethical standards, compliance with local regulations. These general responsibilities are not directed towards any specific stakeholder nor do they bring any specific benefits. This aspect has been tested in practice.

empirically through the studies of Maignan et al. (1999), Maignan (2001) and Pérez et al. (2013).

Measuring the concept of brand equity

Brand equity is defined in many different ways. According to Aaker (1991), brand equity is the set of values that customers associate with a brand that reflects aspects of brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and other asset values. Brand equity is loyalty (customer satisfaction), perceived quality, perceived brand leadership, perceived brand value, brand personality, customer perception of the organization, perceived differentiation, brand awareness, market positioning, price, and distribution (Aaker, 1996). Brand equity is understood as the unique values that a brand brings to stakeholders (customers, shareholders, employees, etc.). According to Aaker (1991, 1996), there are four main aspects of brand equity: brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand image. Aspects discussed in relation to customer relationship management.

Kim et al. (2003) studied in detail the customer-based brand equity with 4 aspects and 34 observed variables for the hotel industry. Then, Kim & Kim (2005) continued to test this scale, adding restaurant chains for similar results. Kayaman & Arasli (2007) studied only 3 aspects of customer-based brand equity (brand loyalty, perceived value and brand image) with 34 observed variables for the hotel industry. Therefore, the authors filtered out variables suitable for the banking industry. In addition, Pinar et al. (2012) used 22 observed variables to measure the brand equity of the banking industry. Continuing to measure customer-based brand equity with 2 aspects of perceived quality and brand preference, Tingchi Liu et al. (2014) used 9 observed variables for the hotel service industry inherited in the thesis. Khan et al. (2015) focused on the perceived quality aspect with 05 observed variables for the banking industry. The survey variables used the Likert scale to measure, serving the quantitative research.

Brand image is considered an important concept in Marketing (Gardner & Levy, 1955), however, there is no consensus on its definition (Dobni & Zinkhan, 1990). The underlying value behind a brand name is the specific associations associated with that brand. If a brand is positioned on associations specific to a product or an industry, competitors will be very

difficult to attack or will create a strong barrier to new competitors. Keller (1993) defines brand image as the perceptions of a brand reflected through brand associations in the minds of customers, linked to brand equity.

Brand loyalty is a component of brand equity from a customer-oriented perspective, which comes from the importance of customer satisfaction in brand building (Aaker, 1991). In other words, dissatisfied customers will not be loyal to that brand. In this article, customer-based brand equity is measured through 11 criteria using a 5-point Likert scale. The content of the scales is related to brand image, perceived quality and brand loyalty. The scales, after being calibrated by experts in the banking industry, are presented specifically in Table 3.3 as follows:

Table 3.3 Components of the customer-based brand equity scale

Symbol

Observation variable	Source
cbbe01	Clean trading space	Yoo et al. (2000), Yoo & Donth (2001), Kim et al. (2003), Kim & Kim (2005), Kayaman & Arasli (2007), Nam et al. (2011), He & Li (2011), Pinar et al. (2012), Martinez et al. (2014), Tingchi Liu et al. (2014), Khan et al. (2015), Fatma et al. (2016), Khan et al. (2016)
cbbe02	Modern design bank
cbbe03	Leading banking brand
cbbe04	Friendly and professional bank staff Good
cbbe05	This bank's brand is different from other banks' brands.
cbbe06	Good bank service quality
cbbe07	Banks have a wide range of financial products and services. Good
cbbe08	This office is my first choice when I need it. use banking services
cbbe09	I am satisfied with the quality of service. this transaction room
cbbe10	I will recommend this broker to anyone. other
cbbe11	Next time, I do not change the transaction location.

Maybe you are interested!

Source: Author compiled from relevant studies

According to Tao et al. (2018), employee perception research will increase effectiveness. Employee-based brand equity is measured through four criteria: brand behavior, employee satisfaction, employee retention intention, and employee loyalty.

employees and positive communication. These criteria create the success of the brand from within the organization. Employees are an important internal resource of brand equity but have not received due attention (Burmann et al. , 2009). To maximize the competitive advantage from the brand, it is necessary to combine external brand equity (customer audience) and internal brand equity (employee audience). King & Grace (2010) conducted an empirical study with 371 service industry employees and found that the following factors affect brand equity: collecting feedback from employees, disseminating knowledge, having brand knowledge, commitment, brand behavior, employee satisfaction, employee retention intention, positive communication, management support, socialization, job attitudes and employee involvement. Brand behavior is the behavior of employees according to standards that are consistent with the brand value of the enterprise (Burmann & Zeplin, 2005) measured by 07 observed variables, in which the variable of giving initiatives to maintain the brand and conveying brand knowledge to new employees is considered by experts to be not suitable for the banking industry and employees working in the Mekong Delta.

Employee satisfaction is the level of satisfaction employees receive from their jobs and is a result of doing what they want and value from their jobs (King & Grace, 2010). Employee satisfaction is measured at five levels: dissatisfied, intending to leave; dissatisfied, not intending to leave; fairly satisfied with the current job; satisfied with the current job and very satisfied with the current job. Employee retention intention is the future intention of the employee to continue with the current job (Good et al. , 1996). Employee retention intention is measured at five levels: not interested in the current job; intending to work for this bank for a short time; intending to work for the bank in the next 5 years; not interested in other jobs and intending to stay with this bank. Positive communication is the extent to which an employee is willing to say positive things about the business and is willing to recommend the business to others (King & Grace, 2010). Positive communication is measured at 05 levels: not talking about the bank, talking about the positive points of this bank, actively introducing this transaction office to others, enjoying talking about the bank brand and always speaking positively about the bank brand. From the scale of King & Grace (2010) after discussing with industry experts to suit the context of banking in the Mekong Delta, specifically the scale of brand value based on employees is presented in Table 3.4 as follows:

Table 3.4 Components of the employee-based brand equity scale

Symbol

Observation variable
At the bank I…
ebbe01	In addition to my main duties, I am also responsible for a few additional tasks. other
ebbe02	I always act for the reputation of the brand.
ebbe03	I consider the impact on the brand before taking action.
ebbe04	I am ready to recommend this trading room as the best place to trade, work
ebbe05	I am interested in learning information about bank brands.
ebbe06	Employee job satisfaction
ebbe07	Employee retention intentions
ebbe08	Positive communication about banking

Source: King & Grace, 2010

Thus, the latent variable CSR is measured according to 05 aspects: community, employees, customers, shareholders and legal ethics; brand value is measured based on customers and employees; HQTC is measured by each bank. The thesis uses a 5-level Likert scale to measure the concepts, in which 1 is completely disagree and 5 is completely agree, this is the most popular measurement method and has been used by many previous studies as summarized in Table 2.3 and Table 2.4.

Measuring financial performance

While CSR studies are considered in many aspects, HQTC should also include many aspects when assessing the relationship between these two concepts (Griffin & Mahon, 1997). To assess HQTC, researchers are divided into 3 groups. The first group uses accounting indicators such as return on assets (Aupperle et al. , 1985; Russo & Fouts, 1997; Moon et al. , 2014); The second group uses market information such as market prices of stocks (Alexander & Buchholz, 1978; Brammer et al. , 2006) or enterprise value (Martínez‐Ferrero & Frías‐Aceituno, 2015). The third group uses a combination of accounting and market information (McGuire et al. , 1988; Pätäri et al. , 2014; Akisik & Gal, 2014). According to McGuire et al. (1988) and Orlitzky et al. (2003), CSR studies often rely on accounting information rather than market information.

Some indicators measuring financial performance according to accounting information include: ROA, ROE, net profit (Cochran & Wood, 1984; Hull & Rothenberg, 2008; Ipal et al. , 2014; Malik & Nadeem, 2014), EPS (Ipal et al. , 2014). Indicators

This represents short-term profitability and management efficiency. The accounting-based approach has the disadvantage that deviations occur due to different accounting principles or management practices that affect accounting data in financial statements and annual reports. In contrast, some financial performance measures based on market information such as Tobin's Q, indicate investors' assessment of the company's ability to generate profits in the future (McGuire et al. , 1988). The market-based approach is less affected by accounting principles and management practices because it refers to investors' assessments and expectations. However, the market-based approach also has weaknesses such as information asymmetry, which does not fairly reflect investors' assessments (McWilliams et al. , 2006). The use of stock price as a measure of corporate governance only concerns financial stakeholders while non-financial stakeholders are also affected by CSR activities (Scholtens, 2008).

According to Rose (2007), there are 3 accounting indicators used to evaluate the performance of commercial banks most commonly: net profit NIM, profit margin on total assets and profit margin on equity. Financial performance is measured by revenue growth and ROA (Yesil & Kaya, 2013). These indicators are directly related to the management ability of the enterprise, rather than the level of direct influence from customer perception (Kim et al. , 2003). Therefore, when considering the subjects' perception of CSR affecting financial performance, the thesis uses accounting information to measure financial performance. In addition, commercial banks in the Mekong Delta operate in the form of branches including many transaction offices, so market information is limited, choosing to collect accounting information from the financial statements of the bank's head office that have been audited to ensure accuracy and reliability. Using ROA, ROE, ROS to measure financial performance is considered direct and objective (Kim et al. , 2003). Although there are many tools to measure financial performance, ROA and ROE are popular. According to Boaventura et al. (2012), 48% and 29% of studies use ROA and ROE respectively to measure financial performance, the highest among other financial performance indicators such as revenue growth (22%), ROS (16%), profit margin (15%), Tobins'Q (10%). ROA and ROE are directly related to profits earned from customers and management strategies. With the majority of studies using ROA and ROE, this thesis continues to use these two indicators to measure financial performance.

3.2.3 Sampling for quantitative research

Primary data were collected from direct interviews using questionnaires. The interviewees were customers, employees and managers who are transacting and working at commercial banks in the Mekong Delta. The study divided the interviewees into two groups: customers (outside) and employees and managers (inside). The customer group is individuals aged 18 and over, who have bank accounts and come to transact directly at the bank. The employee group is employees and managers who are working at the bank, have labor contracts, and their main jobs are directly related to the main operations of the bank (mobilization, payment, money transfer, credit granting), and have contact with customers. The group of employees working in security, administration and janitorial work is not the surveyee. The surveyees were also divided by gender, age, occupation, income, and education level.

Regarding sample size, there are many ways to determine sample size. Because the thesis uses the SEM linear structural model, the sample size should be large (Raykov & Widaman, 1995). However, there is no high consensus among researchers on how large a size is. Hoelter (1983) suggested that the minimum sample size is 200; Tabachnick & Fidell (2001) suggested that the critical sample size is 300, while many researchers believe that the larger the sample size, the better. The sample size with a ratio of 5 observations for a parameter to be estimated (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). The customer group has 33 parameters to be estimated, so the minimum number of observations is 5 x 33 = 165 observations; the employee group has 30 parameters to be estimated, so the minimum number of observations is 5 x 30 = 150 observations.

According to the data of the State Bank (2018), the list has 31 domestic commercial banks in operation. However, there are two banks, Dong A and Ban Viet, which are under special control from the State Bank, so they are not within the scope of the survey (according to Circular 07/2013/TT-NHNN regulating special control of credit institutions dated March 14, 2013). With 29 commercial banks to be surveyed, the author collected the number of transaction offices located in 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta as shown in Table 3.5. With the expected number of observations being 350 customers and 350 employees, the minimum number of observations needed to be collected for each bank was calculated. The sample was collected using a non-probability convenience method with employees and customers who have transactions with commercial banks in the Mekong Delta. The reason for choosing customers and employees is because these are two important stakeholders inside and outside the bank. Besides, if the respondents know and have experience (using) the product, they are able to provide valuable and reliable answers to the questionnaire (Yoo et al. , 2000). For the customer, the author

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