Knowledge Management, Customer Satisfaction and Innovation in CIMB Bank: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Digital transformation, the rise of new competition from FinTech companies, shifting customer needs and regulatory pressures are creating a fast-paced transformation in the banking industry in Southeast Asia, and this transformation has focused on the importance of knowledge management (KM) to improve organizational performance. This paper conceptualizes and empirically tests a link between knowledge management capabilities (KMC) and knowledge management innovation (KMI) with the organizational performance of CIMB Bank Malaysia and customer satisfaction as a mediating variable. Grounded in Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) theory and informed by the Knowledge-Based View, the Resource-Based View and Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory, the framework specifies seven hypotheses on the direct influence of KMC and KMI on performance, the links between KMC, KMI and customer satisfaction, and the mediating effects of customer satisfaction. A quantitative cross-sectional survey gathered data from 369 employees and 383 customers across 12 CIMB Bank branches in urban and rural Malaysia, and the data were analysed using regression and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings support positive direct relationships of KMC (R2 = 0.870) and KMI (R2 = 0.913) with organisational performance. However, customer satisfaction was not significantly related to KMC, KMI or performance, nor did it mediate either knowledge management and performance relationship. These findings add an important boundary condition to KM theory and provide strategic insights for knowledge-based performance enhancement in Malaysian banks.