Developing and Validating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Practices Construct

Transcription

1 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 Developing and Validating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Practices Construct Zuliana Zulkifli, *Izah Mohd Tahir Faculty of Business Management & Accountancy University Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) 00 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu * izah@unisza.edu.my Abstract The purpose of the research reported here is to develop and validate the CRM practices instruments used in this study. The original instrument consists of items, under six dimensions: Customer Acquisition; Customer Response; Customer Knowledge; Customer Information System; Customer Value Evaluation; and Customer Information Process. The instruments were then validated after discussion with the marketing expert and bank practitioner, with 8 items were introduced under five dimensions. The final stage of the validation process was done using factor analysis. Data was gathered through a survey using a structured questionnaire to customers banks with a total of 78 respondents. Findings obtained from the exploratory factor analysis indicate that 9 items under five dimensions are valid and applicable to this study. The five final dimensions are Customer Acquisition, Customer Response, Customer Knowledge, Customer Information System and Customer Value Evaluation. Keywords: Customer Relationship Management, CRM dimensions, exploratory factor analysis. Introduction Today, the key to success in business is focusing on customers needs, providing the products and services that suit their needs and managing the relationships with them to make sure they repeat their purchases (Brown, 000). The only key to success in business is applying Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy into organizations. However, not many organizations understand the term of CRM and how to apply it. Most of the organizations believe that CRM can be achieved through investment in new technology like the more expensive hardware and software for greater customer satisfaction, revenue and growth. Hussain, et. al., (009) note that the term of CRM can be explained by four words as follows: (i) know: CRM manages the customer relationship by creating a clear understanding; target: CRM was developing services and products based on the added value for target groups; (ii) sell: CRM was enabling the actual sale and delivery of services and products through the selected channels; and (iii) service: CRM was developing long term profitable relationships with customers after sales services. CRM has been part in the marketing literature since more than a decade. Interestingly, there is still much debate over what exactly constitute CRM. Customer Relationship Management

2 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 (CRM) is neither a concept nor a project. Furthermore, the definition of CRM is debated between researchers until today. According to Brown (000), CRM as a process of acquiring new customers, retaining the existence customers as given them profitable and at the same time to understands, anticipate, and manages the needs of an organization s current and potential Ryals and Payne (00) stressed CRM is a management approaches that use information technology (IT) to build a long term relationship with customers and at the same time give the profit to the organization. Another researchers like Chen and Ching (00) highlighted CRM as a long term relationship that use customer database to identify which customer can give more profit to the organizations. Specifically, CRM is commonly conceptualized as a strategy (Parvatiyar and Sheth, 00); process (Brown, 000 and Plakoyiannaki and Tzokas, 00); technology (Ryals and Payne, 00 and Chen and Ching, 00); people (Parvatiyar and Sheth, 00). The definitions of CRM vary based on what the researchers focused. Moreover, many definitions include multiple dimensions of CRM (Sin, et. al., 00; Lu and Shang, 007; Rootman, 008; Mansor, et. al., 00; Hussain, et. al., 009; Das, et. al., 009; and Kumar, et. al., 0). Therefore, the purpose of the research reported here was to validate the conceptualization of CRM practices constructs that consists six CRM dimensions based on Lu and Shang (007) research.. Review of Past Literatures Sin etl. al (00) highlighted to develop a reliable and validate CRM scale by using factor analysis. This research was tested to three different groups of respondents. The first group is 0 business executives who were attending a part-time MBA program used to select items based on factor analysis. The second group is using mail survey distributed in Hong Kong financial firms with respondents used to examine factor structure and the third group about 76 business executives who were attending a seminar on CRM used to test the scale generalizability of CRM dimensions. The findings show four dimensions of CRM namely key customer focus, CRM organization, knowledge management and technology based CRM were used. Lu and Shang (007) used six CRM dimensions from a freight forwarders perspectives in Taiwan. The dimensions chose were based on factor analysis namely customer acquisition, customer response, customer knowledge, customer information system, customer value evaluation and customer information process. The result show that the customer knowledge is more important than others dimensions. Rootman et. al. (008) on the other hand, investigated the variables that influence the customer relationship management (CRM) of banks from employees perspectives. There are three variables influence which CRM: attitude of their employees; knowledgeability; and twoway communication. The findings reveal that the variables of attitude and knowledgeability of bank employees have significant impact on the effectiveness of the CRM strategies of banks. In another study by Hussain et. al. (009) in selected banks in Pakistan, stressed the implementation of CRM, the benefits and problems as wells as success and failures as to develop a better understanding of CRM practices. These researchers used CMAT (Customer 6

3 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 Management Assessment Tool) model to identify the elements of practical customer relationship management. The findings reveal that CRM is being practiced in the banks which selected in this study. Mansor et. al. (00) highlighted the understanding of CRM practices among Agrobank s staff. The researchers identified four variables as marketing, sales, information technology and information system. Service support were found to influence the understanding on the CRM. The result indicated that the variable of marketing has significantly influence the understanding on the CRM.. Methodology This research attempts to develop and to validate the CRM practices constructs used to examine the CRM practices form the customers perspective.. The purposive sampling technique has been used with 9 respondents who have account with their banks. However, only 78 questionnaires were usable for analysis. Researchers used this sampling technique because this research focus on the respondents level of understanding about CRM. In addition, this sampling technique is more convenient and meaningful way to investigate (Sekaran, 00).. Questionnaire Development In order to develop a questionnaire comprising the CRM practices, extensive review of literature was done. Based on the review of literature mentioned earlier about statements were developed each representing a CRM practice. A panel of experts was formed to validate and refine the items. The panel consisted of an academic and bank practitioner who has involved in the banking industry for many years. A similar process was adapted by (Sin et. al, 00; Lu and Shang, 007; and Rootman, 008) in their questionnaire development. The panels were asked to comment on the CRM statements and indicate whether each of them is relevant to CRM practice or not. Further, the list of CRM practice might be repetitive and need to select the most comprehensive statements and reject the others. It was decided that only 8 statements were retained and statements were rejected. Each statement was measured using five-point Likert scale anchored by strongly disagree (), disagree (), neutral (), agree (), and strongly agree (). The respondents who were involved in this study are bank.validity and Reliability Tests The CRM practices questionnaire comprises 8 statements/variables judged by the expertise. Factor analysis can be used to determine the broad underlying construct of a scale. The content validity was evaluated by the panel of judges who found it to be a good scale meaning the CRM practices from customers view. Further, the questionnaire was pre-tested to those targeted in the research. About 0 customers banks agreed to participate in this research. The result from pilot study indicated that the questionnaire was clearly understood. From the pilot test results, the researchers found that each CRM practices statements are appropriate using a seven-point Likert scale to measure CRM practice anchored by strongly disagree (), disagree (), somewhat disagree (), neutral (), somewhat agree (), agree (6), strongly agree (7) which more better and more appropriate. Reliability was computed using Cronbach s coefficient for 8 statements of CRM practices of customers view and was found to be 0.96 respectively. Therefore, the scale can be considered to be reliable (Sekaran, 00). 7

4 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0. Findings. Demographic Profile Table shows the result of respondents profile for this study. Majority respondents involve in this study were female (6.%), in the aged between to years old (69.%), and haddegree (.6%) and master (.%). Majority worked in government sector (66.7%) and respondents (69.%) used online banking. From other aspect of how often the respondents go to the bank in a month, results show that majority respondents go to the bank to times only (6.%). This is not surprised since the percentage of usage online banking is higher. A total of 78.% of respondents have been with their bank about to 0 years followed by 9.% have been with their bank about to 0 years and.6% have been with their bank about to 0 years. The result on the purpose respondents use the bank s services are more on personal (80.8%) followed by both (personal and business) (.%) and business (.8%).. Exploratory Factor Analysis and KMO Results The result of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett s test of sphericity is important in factor analysis. The results in Table show that the KMO statistic varies between 0 and. According to Field (009) the KMO values greater than 0. is considered acceptable. Furthermore, the KMO values between 0. and 0.7 are mediocre, values between 0.7 and 0.8 are good, values between 0.8 and 0.9 are great and value above 0.9 are super. In this study, the value of KMO is 0.88 which falls into the range of being good and show that the factor analysis is appropriate for this kind of study Tables to 8 show the result after the exploratory factor analysis for CRM practices construct were done. From 8 statements under six dimensions it has reduced to 9 statements and under five dimensions. Dimension six that is customer information process was dropped for this study.. Conclusion This paper was aimed at developing and validating the scale for CRM practices construct from the bank customers perspective. The original items for CRM practices construct were taken from Lu and Shang (007). These dimensions are: customer acquisition; customer response; customer knowledge; customer information system; customer value evaluation; and customer information process. The study develops a list of 8 statements with six CRM dimensions / factors. With exploratory factor analysis, 8 statements with cross loadings and results shows only9 statements were valid to be used. These results will be used for future study which incorporates more respondents. This study is without its limitations. Larger sample size and broader scope of study may produce different results. Thus, the results from this study has to be interpreted cautiously bearing in mind the limitations mentioned earlier. References Brown, S. A. (000). Customer Relationship Management: Strategic Imperative in the World of E-Business. Canada: John Wiley and Sons. 8

5 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 Chen, J.-S., & Ching, R. K. H. (00). An empirical study of the relationship of IT intensity and organizational absorptive capacity on CRM performance. Journal of Global Information management, (), -7. Das, K., Parmar, J., & Sadanand, V. K. (009). Customer relationship management (CRM) best practices and customer loyalty: A study of Indian banking sector. European Journal of Social Science, (), 6-8. Field, A.P. (ED. ). (009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (Introducing Statistical Methods). India: SAGE Publication Hussain, I., Hussain, M., Hussain, S., & Sajid, M. A. (009). Customer relationship management: Strategies and practices in selected banks of Pakistan. International Review of Business Research Papers, (6), 7-. Kumar, A., Singh, D., & Acharya, P. (0). CRM in banking: Perspectives and insights from Indian rural International Journal of Research in Commerce, Economics and Management, (), Lu, C.-S., & Shang, K.-C. (007). An evaluation of customer relationship management in Freight Forwarder services. Paper presented at the th Asia Pacific Management Conference, Melbourne, Australia. Mansor, N., Abdullah, Z., & Rejab, M.Y.M. (00). The understanding of customer relationship management among Agrobank s staff. Paper presented at the Terengganu International Business and Economics Conference (TIBEC II). Parvatiyar, A., & Sheth, J. N. (00). Customer relationship management: Emerging practice, process and discipline. Journal of Economic and Social Research, (), -. Plakoyiannaki, E., & Tzokas, N. (00). Customer relationship management: A capabilities portfolio perspectives. Journal of Database Marketing, 9 (), 8-7. Rootman, C., Tait, M., & Bosch, J. (008). Variables influencing the customer relationship management of banks. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, (), -6 Ryals, L., & Payne, A. (00). Customer relationship management in financial services: towards information-enabled relationship marketing. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 9, -7. Sekaran, U. (Ed. ). (00). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach. United State: John Wiley & Sons Sin, Y. M. L., Tse, A. C. B., & Yim, F. H. K. (00). CRM: Conceptualization and scale development. European Journal of Marketing, 9(/), 6 9

6 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 Gender: Age: Table : Demographic Profile of the Respondents Category Frequency (n) Percent (%) Male 8.9 Female years years years 8 0. Education Level: Certificate of 0.8 education Diploma 0.8 Degree 7.6 Master. PhD Employment: Private sector 9. Government sector 66.7 Self-employment 6. Student. Online banking: Yes 69. No 0.8 How often you go to the bank in a month? - times times times 8 0. More than 0 times.6 How long have you been a customer of your bank? - 0 years years years.6 Purpose you make use of the service at the bank? Personal Business.8 Both (Personal & Business). 0

7 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 Table : KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy Bartlett's Test of Approx. Chi-Square Sphericity df 06 Sig..000 Table : Exploratory Factor Analysis of the CRM Practices Construct No Items Factors 6 6 I feel relaxed using my bank services Electronic bank provides me with a security system to protect my transaction I can put my trust on any services provided my bank has modern equipments and technologies The services at my bank make me want to use banking services. My bank's system allows me to perform my banking needs I am confident with the security level of my bank The services at my bank would help me to give a good impression towards other people. 9 My bank provides me with enough information to allow me to be well-informed when making choices. My bank uses different measures to meet customers' urgent requirements. 8 My bank offers me with products that reflect my earnings and wealth. My bank offers me with innovative loan services My bank offers me with comprehensive range of investment products. My bank offers me with convenient services My bank uses technology to automate marketing, sales, and services function. 7 My bank uses new technologies to improve communication with me. 9 My bank actively seeks to provide me a total financial solution

8 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 8 My bank has clear objectives and strategies to meet my needs and the performance of my relationships. My bank rapidly responds to my problems, suggestions, and complaints. My bank would initiatively understand my service requirements and expectations. 8 My bank is able to tailor its products and services to meet my needs. 6 My bank often encourages me to introduce other customers to purchase their products and services. 6 My bank provides services to meet my specific requirements. My bank provides a variety of service items and information My bank fulfills its promises on time My bank uses customer information to plan new products and services. My bank uses customer information to attract new My bank uses different approaches to attract new My bank takes action for my erroneous transaction. Eigen values Percentage of Variance Cumulative Percentage

9 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 Table : CRM Practices: Customer Acquisition N o Original Dimension from Lu & Shang (007) N o Discussion with Marketing expertise and practitioner Dimension : Customer Dimension : Customer Acquisition Acquisition Our company has flexible My bank uses different measures for customers' measures to meet customers' urgent requirements. urgent requirements. Our company has a different marketing mix for target Our company would use customer information to develop a new market. Our company would use customer information to apply marketing planning. Our company provides a variety of service items and information. 6 Our company provides sales rebates for 7 Our company provides solitary services to meet customers' requirements. My bank uses different approaches for target My bank uses customer information to attract new My bank uses customer information to plan new products and services. My bank provides a variety of service items and information. 6 My bank provides services to meet my specific requirements. 7 My bank delivers its promises on time. 8 My bank is able to tailor its products and services to meet my needs. 9 My bank actively seeks to provide me a total financial solution. 0 My bank staffs are knowledgeable and possess necessary information on requested services. My bank staffs show sincere interest in solving my problems. N o Using Factor Analysis Dimension : Customer Acquisition I feel relaxed using my bank services Electronic bank provides me with a security system to protect my transaction I can put my trust on any services provided My bank has modern equipments and technologies The services at my bank make me want to use banking services My bank's system allows me to perform my banking needs I am confident with the security level of my bank The services at my bank would help me to give a good impression towards other people My bank provides me with enough information to allow me to be wellinformed when making choices

10 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 Table : CRM Practices: Customer Response N Original Dimension from Lu N Discussion with Marketing N Using Factor Analysis o & Shang (007) o expertise and practitioner o Dimension : Customer Response Dimension : Customer Response Dimension : Customer Response 8 Our company uses phone My bank uses phone calls, e- My bank uses different calls, s, and personnel mails, and personnel visits to measures to meet visits to communicate with communicate with me. customers' urgent requirements 9 Our company rapidly My bank rapidly responds to My bank offers me with responds to customers' my problems, suggestions, 8 products that reflect problems, suggestions, and complaints. and complaints. my earnings and wealth 0 Our company initiatively provides transportation related information to shippers. Our company would initiatively understand customers' service requirements and expectations. Our company has a good reputation; therefore shippers would initiatively enquire about our services My bank would initiatively understand my service requirements and expectations. My bank offers me convenient service. My bank offers a range of credit facilities that meet my requirements. My bank offers me useful online products and services. My bank offers me products that reflect my earnings and wealth. My bank provides me with enough information to allow me to make informed product choices. My bank staffs are sufficiently empowered to solve difficult My bank offers me with innovative loan services. My bank offers me with comprehensive range of investment products My bank offers me with convenient services. My bank uses 9 technology to automate marketing, sales, and service function My bank uses new 7 technologies to improve communication with me 9 My bank actively seeks to provide me a total financial solution My bank takes action for my erroneous

11 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 banking problems. transaction My bank takes actions for erroneous transaction. N o 6 Table 6: CRM Practices: Customer Knowledge Original Dimension from N Discussion with Marketing N Lu & Shang (007) o expertise and practitioner o Dimension : Customer Dimension : Customer Knowledge Knowledge Our company is knowledgeable about how 8 to obtain main Our company understands main customers service requirements. Our company has fruitful capabilities to obtain new Our customers often insist of using our company s services My bank often asks me to introduce other customers to purchase their products and services. My bank often insists me using bank s services and products. My bank s operating hours are convenient to me. My bank offers me comprehensive range of investment products. My bank offers me innovative loan facilities. My bank understands my individual needs and circumstances. My bank has a clear objectives and strategy to meet my need and the performance of my relationships. Using Factor Analysis Dimension : Customer Knowledge My bank has clear objectives and strategies to meet my needs and the performance of my relationships. My bank rapidly responds to my problems, suggestions, and complaints. My bank would initiatively understand my service requirements and expectations. 8 My bank is able to tailor its products and services to meet my needs. 6 My bank often encourages me to introduce other customers to purchase their products and services.

12 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January My bank does not misuse customer s knowledge. The terms and conditions of my bank are better than others. My bank always meets my expectations. N o Table 7: CRM Practices: Customer Information System Original Dimension from Lu N Discussion with Marketing N Using Factor Analysis & Shang (007) o expertise and practitioner o Dimension : Customer Dimension : Customer Dimension : Customer Information System Information System Information System The company is capable of My bank s system allows 6 My bank provides using their computer system me to perform my banking services to meet my to categorize targeted needs. specific requirements. markets. The company s computer system is capable of organizing and classifying interaction between sales representatives and The company has a computer system sufficient to handle customers information. Our company has a management system to check transaction and customer relationships. 6 7 My bank has modern equipments and technologies. My bank provides telebanking and internet banking facility. ATM machines are easily available. My bank has a computer system for recording my purchases and services. The new technologies improved communication between me and my bank. My bank provides a variety of service items and information. 7 My bank fulfils its promises on time. 6

13 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January My bank has a system to make it easy for me to do business with the bank. My bank uses technology to automate marketing, sales, and service functions. Electronic bank provides me a security to protect my transaction. N o Table 8: CRM Practices: Customer Value Evaluation Original Dimension from Lu N Discussion with N Using Factor Analysis & Shang (007) o Marketing expertise o and practitioner Dimension : Customer Dimension : Customer Dimension : Customer Value Evaluation Our company would analyze individual customers profit contribution. Our company would analyze individual customer types and behaviours to identify customer value. 6 7 Value Evaluation My bank always delivers superior service. My bank offers me a high quality services. I feel confidence with the services. I enjoy my bank services. The service in my bank makes me want to use banking services. I feel relaxed use my bank services. The service in my bank would help me make a good impression on Value Evaluation My bank uses customer information to plan new products and services. My bank uses customer information to attract new My bank uses different approaches to attract new 7

14 International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol., No.; January 0 other people. 8 I am confidence with security level of my bank. N o Table 9: CRM Practices: Customer Information Process Original Dimension from N Discussion with N Using Factor Analysis Lu & Shang (007) o Marketing expertise o and practitioner Dimension 6: Customer Dimension 6: Customer Dimension 6: Customer Information Process The company s computer system is capable of storing, searching, and analyzing customers data. The company s computer system is capable of recording customers purchases and services. Our company has location advantages. Information Process Dropped Information Process Dropped 8