Digital trust as a bridge: linking responsible AI and technological responsibility to customer loyalty among Nigerian student digital banking users

Abstract

Grounded in stakeholder and signaling theories, this study aims to investigate the relationships among responsible artificial intelligence (AI), technological responsibility and customer loyalty among student-digital banking users in Nigeria. It also explores the mediating role of digital trust in these relationships. This study adopted a quantitative approach, collecting data through a structured questionnaire administered to digitally active student-bank customers from four Nigerian universities. A total of 421 valid responses were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that technological responsibility significantly enhances digital trust but does not exert a direct influence on customer loyalty. In contrast, responsible AI demonstrates a significant positive effect on both digital trust and customer loyalty. Digital trust is a strong predictor of customer loyalty, playing a critical role in fully mediating the relationship between technological responsibility and customer loyalty, and partially mediating the relationship between responsible AI and customer loyalty. These results suggest that customers perceive responsible AI as a more salient and experience-driven aspect of digital banking than general technological responsibility. The study contributes to the growing literature on corporate digital responsibility by empirically distinguishing responsible AI from broader technological practices and by providing evidence from an emerging economy context. Practical implications for digital banking strategy and ethical AI governance are discussed.