Showing papers on "Customer relationship management published in 2017"

Customer engagement: the construct, antecedents, and consequences

Abstract: In this study, we highlight the need and develop a framework for customer engagement (CE) by reviewing the marketing literature and analyzing popular press articles. By understanding the evolution of customer management, we develop the theory of engagement, arguing that when a relationship is satisfying and has emotional connectedness, the partners become engaged in their concern for each other. As a result, the components of customer engagement include both the direct and the indirect contributions of CE. Based on the theoretical support, our proposed framework elaborates on the components of CE as well as the antecedents (satisfaction and emotion) and consequences (tangible and intangible outcomes) of CE. We also discuss how convenience, nature of the firm (B2B vs. B2C), type of industry (service vs. product), value of the brand (high vs. low), and level of involvement (high vs. low) moderate the link between satisfaction and direct contribution, and between emotions and indirect contribution of CE, respectively. Further, we show how customer engagement can be gained and how firm performance can be maximized by discussing relevant strategies.

The Service–Profit Chain : a Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework

Abstract: The service–profit chain (SPC) has served as a prominent guidepost for service managers and researchers alike. This meta-analysis provides the first comprehensive test of the SPC, showing that all the proposed links are statistically significant and substantial. However, the effect sizes vary considerably, partly according to the type of service provided. Meta-analytic structural equation models show that internal service quality translates into service performance through various mechanisms beyond employee satisfaction, and they highlight the importance of the service encounter and customer relationship characteristics for customer responses. The findings not only indicate the need to integrate complementary paths in the SPC framework but also challenge the implicit SPC rationale that firms should always maximize employee satisfaction and external service quality to optimize firm performance.

The Future of Frontline Research: Invited Commentaries

Abstract: This article contains a set of six invited commentaries written by leading scholars, expressing varied perspectives on the future of frontline research and on the frontline domain itself. The article accompanies the Journal of Service Research special issue on organizational frontlines. In their commentaries, the authors share insightful views on areas of personal interest ranging from employee emotion and customer relationship building to the effect of technology and its implementation at the organizational frontline. Included within each commentary are managerial insights and suggestions for needed research in the highlighted area.

Achieving Sustainable Development by Collaborating in Green Product Innovation

Abstract: Collaboration in green product innovation (GPI) is becoming increasingly important, and research on such innovation has grown in recent years. This study reviews literature on external collaborations in GPI to investigate drivers, inter-organisational factors and intra-organisational factors for such collaborations. The review includes a total of 67 papers. Survey studies and case studies are the methodologies applied most in the reviewed papers. The most common collaborators are suppliers and customers. Drivers include economic factors, regulations, customer demand, competitiveness and firm performance. Numerous inter-organisational collaboration factors are presented and summarised in terms of partner selection, relationship management, knowledge access and agreements. Intra-organisational factors mainly concern cross-functional collaboration, capabilities and internal practices. Implications for policy and practitioners are presented.

Social media use for CRM and business performance satisfaction: The moderating roles of social skills and social media sales intensity

Abstract: The present study explored the association between the intensity of social media use for customer relationship management (CRM) and the business performance satisfaction of Thai microenterprises. The survey data were collected from 217 owners of the small shops at major marketplaces in Thailand. The results from partial least square regression analysis showed that the entrepreneurs who used social media intensively for CRM tended to report higher satisfaction with their business performance. Furthermore, the results from the moderating effect analyses found that the positive relationship between social media use intensity for CRM and business performance satisfaction tended to be significantly higher for the entrepreneurs who exhibited lower levels of social competency in business, as well as for the companies that generated more sales from social media. The main findings of this research provide practical implications for microenterprise entrepreneurs. Given that communication in social media tends to involve less interpersonal interactions than face-to-face communication, using social media for CRM activities might be essential in enabling entrepreneurs with low social competency to interact with customers to improve customer satisfaction. Also, this finding implies that using social media for CRM tends to be more crucial for companies that primarily target customers who are social media users.

The Mediating Role of Customer Relationship on the Social Media Marketing and Purchase Intention Relationship with Special Reference to Luxury Fashion Brands

Abstract: The reach of internet technology and social media has opened abundance of opportunities for marketers as well as for consumers across the globe. To anticipate future purchase behavior of consumers,...

Revitalizing relationship marketing

Abstract: Purpose The aim of this paper is to review the forces that led to the rise of relationship marketing (RM) and to provide suggestions for how it can overcome its midlife crisis and be revitalized. Design/methodology/approach Personal reflections. Findings A shift in two dimensions is needed to revitalize RM: from “share of wallet” to “share of heart” as the RM objective and from “managing customer relationships” to “managing contractual or virtual joint ventures with customers” as the process of RM. Research limitations/implications The shift to “share of heart” will generate three new RM areas for researchers and practitioners: emotive feedback, purpose-driven RM and the use of social media for developing and nurturing brand communities. For the process shift to take place, companies and customers need to co-create value, collaborate cross functionally and share value. Originality/value Going from “share of wallet” to “share of heart” as the objective of RM and from managing customer relationship to joint venturing with customers as a process will revitalize the RM discipline.

Sustainability in The Banking Industry: A Strategic Multi-Criterion Analysis

Abstract: The current paper aims to develop an effective and integrated MCDM model for the evaluation of the sustainability practices in the banking services, employing a multi-stage, fuzzy MCDM model that integrates the Balanced Scorecard, fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS. The approach aims to evaluate sustainability from the following four perspectives: financial stability, customer relationship management, internal business process and environment-friendly management system. A real implementation dealing with the six largest commercial banks in India is discussed. The results highlights the critical aspects of the evaluation criteria and the issues in improving sustainable banking performances. Regarding the sustainability issues, it is shown that the environment-friendly management system takes a back seat compared with the other criteria. Furthermore, the results show that there is a misunderstanding of the role that corporate social responsibility plays with respect to environmental issues. The developed evaluation model offers a valuable management tool for banks' administrators by assisting them in strategic choices in order to achieve their objective of sustainability and sustainable banking. Moreover, it offers a measuring tool with unique features that complements the emerging trend of integrated reporting considering uncertainty. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Do corporate sustainable management activities improve customer satisfaction, word of mouth intention and repurchase intention? Empirical evidence from the shipping industry

Abstract: As the concept of corporate sustainable management activities (CSMA) has become an increasingly important element of corporate management, much attention has been paid to its impact on customer relationship. Although there exists many studies concentrating mainly on the environment aspect of CSMA, only a few address the three dimensions of CSMA (environmental, social and economic) and examine their comprehensive impact on relationship marketing. In an attempt to fill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the influence of CSMA on customer satisfaction (CS), word of mouth intention (WOMI) and repurchase intention (RI).,The data come from 214 shipping industry practitioners (shippers, freight forwarders and third party logistics service providers in South Korea). Structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to test the impact of CSMA on CS, WOMI and RI.,Based on a survey conducted in South Korea, the findings indicate that environmental and economic aspects of CSMA play a significant role in enhancing CS and the enhanced CS positively affects WOMI and RI.,As the field data were obtained from only one industry, future replication of the findings to other industries should consider industry-specific factors, if applicable.,The results highlight several implications for shipping industry practitioners to consider when establishing the strategy for effective corporate sustainable management to enhance CS.,This study is one of the first empirical attempts to explore how CSMA affects CS in the shipping industry. In addition, this paper empirically investigates the influence of CS on WOMI and RI.

Customer relationship management (people, process and technology) and organisational culture in hotels: Which traits matter?

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of four organisational cultural traits of adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission on the three components of customer relationship management (CRM), namely, people, process and technology, in the context of the hotel industry. Design/methodology/approach Required data are collected with a quantitative approach and a questionnaire adapted from the Denison organisational culture survey and the Mendoza CRM model. The questionnaire was distributed among 364 managers of a chain hotel in the UK and gathered data were examined using the structural equation modelling method. Findings The results of this study reveal that the four traits of organisational culture (adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission) have positive and significant impacts on the three components of CRM (people, process and technology). A set of theoretical contributions and practical implications was also discussed. Research limitations/implications The study is conducted with a case study approach; hence, the findings cannot be generalised to a larger population, and the results might be different for other industries. Because of the limitation of access to all employees, only managers were selected as the sample, and future studies with all employees may show different results. Practical implications Current study helps hotel managers to understand the role and importance of organisational cultural traits in successful implementation of their CRM strategy components. Originality/value The position taken in this study recognises the need to enhance the understanding of organisational culture’s impact on implementing CRM components. Organisational cultural traits have different levels of impact on CRM implementation, and this is the first study to investigate the detailed impacts of the four traits of adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission on the three components of CRM, namely, people, process and technology.

Bank adoption of mobile banking: stakeholder perspective

Abstract: Purpose Bank adoption of mobile banking globally remains sporadic. Factors influencing this remain under researched. The purpose of this paper is to explore drivers and barriers of bank adoption of mobile banking from a stakeholder perspective. Design/methodology/approach Using diffusion of innovation (DOI), a mixed method study was conducted. Data were collected using blogging to inform a two-round modified Delphi study. The opinion of 72 members from six stakeholder industries was sought. Findings The results indicate that DOI theory is still applicable within mobile environments in helping to understand the diffusion of mobile banking. Key drivers of bank adoption were global mobile phone penetration, competitive advantage, customer convenience, strategic importance, customer demand, low perceived risk/security concerns and stakeholder partnerships. Findings suggest low levels of customer demand and lack of return on investment (ROI) are key barriers for banks. The findings have strategic implications for industry players highlighting the importance of mobile banking to maintain market share and customer relations. These influences will inform successful mobile banking strategies by raising awareness of major barriers. Originality/value This study concentrates on a bank/stakeholder perspective. It confirms that DOI theory is still applicable within mobile environments. It extends understanding of bank adoption providing useful information for all stakeholders. It has implications for banks regarding multi-channel banking and the motivators and challenges influencing its adoption.

Performance implications of information-value offering in e-service systems

Abstract: We present that information-value offering is critical to successful e-service systems implementation.The strategic fit between e-service capability and service innovation orientation has a positive effect on information-value offering.Examining the role of customer relationship performance in mediating the relationship between information-value offering and organizational performance.Showing the implications for successful e-service systems implementation. This research examines the performance implications of information-value offering in e-service systems. Specifically, this study introduces both a resource-based perspective that combines technology, human, and business resources to develop an e-service capability, and an innovation strategy that emphasizes service innovation orientation to examine information-value offering. This study also examines how firms bundle e-service capability and service innovation orientation to enhance information-value offering that enhances customer relationships and organizational performance. The results from a survey of 115 financial service firms in Taiwan highlight the importance of how e-service capability and service innovation orientation leads to information-value offering and that this value is shown to positively influence organizational performance by customer relationship performance. The results suggest that researchers and practitioners should pay special attention to the complementary resource-strategy that are needed to successfully implement e-service systems initiatives and that an emphasis on the resource or strategy alone may not be sufficient.

Customer relationship management and customer satisfaction: the mediating role of relationship quality

Abstract: This study investigates possible associations between customer relationship management (CRM) practices, relationship quality and customer satisfaction, focusing on the possible mediation effect of relationship quality on the CRM tactics and satisfaction link. Field research was conducted by utilising a questionnaire developed by adopting relevant work reported in literature. CRM practices were conceptualised by a 14-item scale, while customer satisfaction was measured by a 4-item construct. Relationship quality was conceptualised by two dimensions, namely relationship satisfaction and trust. The questionnaire was made available over the internet and the respondents were customers of the three major mobile telephony companies in Greece. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted in order to identify latent factors among the CRM practices’ items. The results revealed two CRM practices’ factors, which were labelled as customer care and communication. Regression analysis was employed to examine the relationshi...

Ethical Purchasing : Developing the Supply Chain beyond the Environment

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the challenge to business of producing meaningful supply-chain improvement systems that reflect real business needs and embrace social change. The principles of the 1991 ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development have been incorporated into European Union Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, including the purchasing and sourcing of raw materials. The arena of supplier improvement should and can be expanded to encompass other ethical issues using the same methods and approach as environmental management. On the practical level, there are two facets of risk: the risk of not carrying out supplier evaluation versus the ethical risks inherent in the supply chain and their ultimate effect on the sustainability of the business. In terms of the supplier customer relationship, social audit gives an opportunity for feedback and helps answer the questions concerning the type of ethical improvement needed in the supply chain and how that can be achieved in a manner that is acceptable and achievable by all parties.

Customer relationship management research in tourism and hospitality: a state-of-the-art

Abstract: Purpose This study aimed to provide a critical review of the evolution of customer relationship management (CRM) research in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) field. Design/methodology/approach The study conducted a thorough systematical literature review by collecting papers from 14 leading tourism and hospitality journals. The examination of the literature is first based on the evolution of CRM notion and its definitions. Next, CRM studies in the literature that are related to H&T were assessed based on their timelines and themes. Third, the studies were classified based on CRM components and its impacts on firms’ performances. Findings The literature review provided an in-depth understanding on the progress of CRM based on the selected topics and suggests a redesigned research agenda for scholars, graduate students and practitioners. Implications This study provides new and meaningful avenues for further research in CRM in H&T area. Originality value CRM has a key role in business performance and increased customer satisfaction and retention, specifically in the context of the service industry. To date, scholars have produced an abundant number of CRM-related studies in tourism and hospitality journals. In this study, the progress of CRM research conducted in the tourism and hospitality sector is critically reviewed.

Organizational structure, innovation performance and customer relationship value in the Greek advertising and media industry

Abstract: Purpose This paper aims to explore the impact of organizational structure dimensions on innovation performance as well as its implications on business customers’ relationship value and financial performance in the business-to-business (B2B) market of the Greek advertising and media industry. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of 180 executives, who are at the helm of 163 Greek advertising and media organizations, the authors apply the partial least square method to test the association of organizational structure with innovation performance, business customers’ relationship value and financial outcomes. Findings Findings have brought to light that training boosts organization’s capacity to innovate, whereas direct supervision as a coordination mechanism significantly restricts this capacity. Innovation performance in the advertising B2B market fosters business customers’ relationship value and financial performance, while financial outcomes are also beneficially affected by profitable relationships with customer relationship value. Practical implications Because of the dramatic decline in their profitability caused by the economic crisis in the past five years, Greek advertising and media companies are threatened with extinction; thus, they are required to enhance their effectiveness through the adoption of a more innovation-oriented structure. Thus, managers should facilitate structures supporting training and delimiting direct supervision to foster the development of a competitive advantage built on innovation, creativity and business clients’ relationship. Originality/value This study contributes to the existing relationship marketing literature because it introduced Mintzberg’s typology to measure organizational structure and led to the diagnosis of the associations between different dimensions of organizational structure and various aspects of performance in the media and advertising industry, revealing the partial mediating role of customer relationship value between innovation and financial performance in the B2B market.

Customer Roles in Self-Service Technology Encounters in a Tourism Context

Abstract: This paper reports on a study which explored the customer perspective on their roles in SST encounters in a tourism context, through the theoretical lens of service-dominant logic. The study employed short qualitative interviews with airline passengers at an international airport. The findings suggest that customers can assume six roles in an SST encounter which can be viewed as either positive or negative in terms of value creation. Therefore, a key contribution of this paper is the development of a role–experience continuum which depicts the variations in customer experiences of value creation in a tourism context.

Customer relationship management: Innovation and performance

Abstract: The aim of this study is to empirically test a framework which identifies the relationships between customer relationship management (CRM) practices, organizational performance and innovation capability of Iranian manufacturing firms.,Data for the study were collected from a sample of 211 Iranian manufacturing firms. The research model was tested using structural equation modeling.,The results reveal that CRM practices have a positive and significant, though weak, effect on organizational performance and innovation capability of Iranian manufacturing organizations. Innovation improvement caused by CRM also results in better organizational performance.,Because this study is conducted in Iranian manufacturing organizations, it implies that the generalizability of this study’s findings is limited to the manufacturing firms in Iran and cannot be applied to other markets without a further validation.,This empirical research has extended our understanding of CRM components and their impact on business performance and innovation capability of Iranian manufacturing firms which have not been addressed together in previous empirical studies in Iran. Also, the obtained findings offer the Iranian manufacturing executives and managers strategic insights in relation to CRM implementation, CRM items and, more importantly, the most influential components of CRM on the manufacturing organizations’ performance and innovation.,This paper shows the importance of CRM practices and how they directly influence organizational and innovation capabilities of the Iranian firms. This study is among the few studies which attempt to empirically investigate the relationships between these variables particularly in the context of Iran.

Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of Customer Relationship Management Campaigns

Abstract: Customer relationship management (CRM) campaigns have traditionally focused on maximizing the profitability of the targeted customers. The authors demonstrate that in business settings characterized by network externalities, a CRM campaign that is aimed at changing the behavior of specific customers propagates through the social network, thereby also affecting the behavior of nontargeted customers. Using a randomized field experiment involving nearly 6,000 customers of a mobile telecommunication provider, they find that the social connections of targeted customers increase their consumption and become less likely to churn, due to a campaign that was neither targeted at them nor offered them any direct incentives. The authors estimate a social multiplier of 1.28. That is, the effect of the campaign on first-degree connections of targeted customers is 28% of the effect of the campaign on the targeted customers. By further leveraging the randomized experimental design, the authors show that, consiste...