We introduce the spaces Vℬp(X) (respectively 𝒱ℬp(X)) of the vector measures ℱ:Σ→X of bounded (p,ℬ)-variation (respectively of bounded (p,ℬ)-semivariation) with respect to a bounded bilinear map ℬ:X×Y →Z and show that the spaces Lℬp(X) consisting of functions which are p-integrable with respect to ℬ, defined in by Blasco and Calabuig [‘Vector-valued functions integrable with respect to bilinear maps’, Taiwanese Math. J. to appear], are isometrically embedded in Vℬp(X). We characterize 𝒱ℬp(X) in terms of bilinear maps from Lp′×Y into Z and Vℬp(X) as a subspace of operators from Lp′(Z*) into Y*. Also we define the notion of cone absolutely summing bilinear maps in order to describe the (p,ℬ)-variation of a measure in terms of the cone-absolutely summing norm of the corresponding bilinear map from Lp′×Y into Z.

Let $\mathcal{A}$ be a ${{C}^{*}}$-algebra and $E$ be a Banach space with the Radon-Nikodym property. We prove that if $j$ is an embedding of $E$ into an injective Banach space then for every absolutely summing operator $T:\,\mathcal{A}\,\to \,E$, the composition $j\,\circ \,T$ factors through a diagonal operator from ${{l}^{2}}$ into ${{l}^{1}}$. In particular, $T$ factors through a Banach space with the Schur property. Similarly, we prove that for $2\,<\,p\,<\,\infty $, any absolutely summing operator from $\mathcal{A}$ into $E$ factors through a diagonal operator from ${{l}^{p}}$ into ${{l}^{2}}$.