The Role of Customer Relationship Management Practices and Technology Alignment towards Customers' Loyalty: Mediating Role of Trust and Commitment

Abstract

Marketing is about customer management. In todays' competitive market environment, where market offerings are far more complex, and customers' interfaces are far broader, marketing has become increasingly tactical and lost control of the customer management process. Different research scholars have also questioned the effectiveness of several customer relationship management strategies since the technological revolution 4.0. The present study extending the scope of the scholarly discussion aims to explore the role of customer relationship management practices and technology alignment on customer loyalty. Customer relationship management has been an essential consideration in the services marketing literature to maximize the loyalty of the targeted customers. Following the trust-commitment theory, it was further argued that, firms that can develop a certain level of trust and commitment with their targeted customers achieve a competitive outcome in the market. The role of customer relationship management is evident in social networking apps (Careem, Uber, Grab etc.). The present study has collected data from 300 potential social networking app users using purposive sampling to validate the conceptual understanding. The data was analyzed using SMART PLS. The findings have reflected a significant role of technology alignment and customer relationship management practices in enhancing the customers' trust and commitment. The mediating roles of trust and commitment to enhance customer' loyalty proves to be significant and paramount in customer relationship management paradigm. Moreover, by adopting a strategic customer relationship management practice with efficient use of technology, service firms can broaden their understanding of marketing and make use of all aspects of customer management as part of an integrated marketing process for providing valuable outcomes in the market. Finally, the study has provided implications for future research agenda by exploring the in-depth roots of trust and commitment to extend the body of knowledge in customer management.