SCIENCE ROAD Journal SCIENCE ROAD JOURNAL Year: 2015 Volume: 03 Issue: 03 Pages: 278-285 Analyzing the impact of knowledge management on the success of customer communications with intermediary role of institutional factors in Gilan construction engineering organization Masomeh Shafaghaty Department of public Management, Bandar e Anzali International Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gilan, Iran Morteza Hazraty Department of public management, Bandar e Anzali Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gilan, Iran Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the factors influencing success of customer communication management system in Gilan construction engineering organization. The population of this study includes the staff of Gilan construction engineering organization. Random sampling method is used for this study. The population is consisted of 231 workers, which among them, 156 individuals were randomly selected as samples. Field study is used for data collection and the questionnaire is used as the tool of study. Content validity is used to prove the questionnaire validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficient is implemented to determine its reliability. Structural equation modeling method was used to test the hypotheses of the research. The results indicated that the capacity of knowledge management, technology and customer orientation through organizational factors has a positive relationship with the success of communicating with customers in an organization. Keywords: Knowledge management capacity, customer communications management technology, customer orientation, organizational factors, knowledge management success coefficient 278
1. Introduction Customer communications management is the process of identifying, selecting, acquiring, developing and retaining beneficial customers. Organizations can satisfy the needs and requirements of their customers through having a long- term communication with them [1] Customer communications management is a philosophy in business which presents organizational prospects in trading. In this regard, the factors affecting the success of customer communications must be identified and some steps must be taken to develop and enhance those Knowledge management is an intermediatory component of knowledge management. Organizations can establish an effective communications with customers only when they are able to understand what services, how and when are valuable for customers and how much they can cost for them. Customer communications management is associated with acquiring, sharing and development of the knowledge of customers in order to benefit both customers and organizations. In today's global economy, Customer communications management is one of those subjects which encourage organizations to reconsider communication strategies with a broad range of customers and to capture this extensive knowledge. But it can be noted that establishing an effective communication with costumers without implementing knowledge management is impossible. To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization and to ensure optimal delivery of goods and services to customers and to gain their consent, we must manage our knowledge about customers. Based on the above discussions, the research question is as follows: Does knowledge management is a key determinant for successful implementation of customer communications management? And are there are any other relevant factors, and if it is so, what are their roles in the success of customer communications management? 2. The Importance of research In recent decades, knowledge-based society is determined by factors such as increased competition, technological innovation and market nature At the time of business, organizations must pay attention to the knowledge, since knowledge is considered as an important organizational source in the recent years, and it is why knowledge management is turning to a research preference among the academic community. And Knowledge is one of those areas which companies allocate more cost in order to implement it Research has shown that knowledge management has a growing role in the customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction which refers to as customer communications management has focused on maintaining existing customers through developing long-term relationships and meeting their needs to attract new customers with higher profitability. These long- term communications which is partially based on the customer knowledge, knowledge management systems and customer communications management not only can improve the ability of organization to interact, attract and establish personal relationship with customers, but also is able to increase the customer knowledge. 3. Research hypothesis According to the conceptual model of the present study, the following hypotheses are proposed: 3.1. Main hypothesis There is a positive relationship between knowledge management and success of customer communications with intermediary role of institutional factors. 279
3.1.1. Sub-hypotheses SCIENCE ROAD JOURNAL 1- There is a positive relationship between the ability of knowledge management and success of customer communications management. 2- There is a positive relationship between organizational factors and success of customer communications management. 3- There is a positive relationship between management technology and success of customer communications management. 4- There is a positive relationship between customer- orientation and success of customer communications management. 4. Theoretical framework Customer communications management: believes that customer communications management consists of heuristic analysis and using knowledge about the customer to increase sales of goods and services. In other words, customer communication management is a process designed for receiving customer attributes and using these attributes to develop marketing activities [2] suggests that Customer communications management includes strategic use of information, processes, and people to manage customer communications with company (marketing, sale, services and so on) in entire life-time of customers [3] Communications management includes one customer-focused business strategy which aims at increasing loyalty and Satisfaction of customers by providing customized services to each customer and better responds to their needs [4] Knowledge management: Knowledge management is the process of discovering, acquiring, and developing, maintaining, evaluating and applying appropriate knowledge at the right time by the right person in the organization which is applied through establishing a link between human resources, information technology and communications and creating an appropriate structure to achieve organizational goals. In a general level, knowledge management can be defined as a set of processes that govern the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge. It requires the creation of organizational and supportive structures, facilitating relations, the use of information technology tools in the network and knowledge explanation (Organizational factors: Organizational factors are aspects of working with human resource management, organizational structure, and the allocation of resources in the organization. Implementing customer communications management in each organization or company requires optimal using of these factors. Different institutional factors affect the successful implementation of customer communications management in the organization, but what is considered in the present study includes staff and leadership variables, and organizational structure 280
Customer orientation National results Obtaining KM Dissemination of KM Organizational variables Success of CRM CRM technology Marketing results Conceptual model of the study 5. Methodology The present study is an applied Research type and descriptive method is used for implementing the research. This study is a correlation research one and also field study is used for data collection. 5.1. Statistical population and sample Statistical population of this study consists of the staffs of Gilan construction engineering organization which are 231 individuals. Sample includes one part of population which is representative of that population. In other words, the sample consists of a limited number of sections of the population that expresses the main features of the community Given that the population is limited, Morgan table is used and 140 individuals are selected as statistical sample using the simple sampling method. (0.05) 2 2 (1.96).(0.558) (231) 2 2.(231) (0.05) (1.96).(0.558) 2 2 156 5.2. The reliability of the study In this study, the Cronbach's alpha was used to determine reliability of questionnaire with the emphasis on the internal consistency of the questions, which is calculated by SPSS software for the set of questions related to each variable. At the time of calculating reliability coefficient using Cronbach's alpha, at first a primary sample includes 35 questionnaires were pre- tested, and then, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated using obtained data. 281
Cronbach's alpha coefficient related to the reliability of questionnaire Variable Number of questions Alpha Knowledge obtaining 8 0/889 Dissemination of knowledge 3 0/819 Capacity of knowledge 11 0/914 Organizational variables 10 0/912 technology 6 0/834 Customer- orientation 7 0/894 Performance 7 0/842 6. Data analysis: 6.1. Normality test Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for the success of CRM variable Significance level statistic of the test 0/338 0/942 CRM success Based on the above table, it can be observed that the amount of significance level obtained for Kolmogorov- Smirnov test for the success of CRM as a dependent variable is greater than 0/05. As a result, the variable in the under-studied sample has a normal distribution. 6.2. Investigating the status of variables T-test results of the research variables numbers average t- statistics Standard deviation Significance level CRM success 184 3.6325 12.768 0.67193 0.000 Knowledge management 184 3.5763 10.748 0.72736 0.000 Customerorientation 184 3.3905 7.121 0.74388 0.000 technology 184 3.7002 13.536 0.70167 0.000 Organizational variables 184 3.6599 12.359 0.72424 0.000 282
According to the obtained t- test results it can be seen from the table that the average of all the variables is more than expected amounts. 6.3. Analysis of indirect and direct directions of the structural model As it is observed from the output of software and standard estimation as well as significance values, the results of indirect effects of model variables are calculated in the following table. Table of direct and indirect effects on the CRM success Causal relationships Direct effects Indirect effects Customer-orientation organizational variables CRM success 0.18 Obtaining KM organizational variables CRM success 0.18 Dissemination of KM organizational variables CRM success 0.12 CRM technology organizational variables CRM success 0.21 organizational variables CRM success 0.68 According to the above results it can be observed that CRM technology has the greatest effect on the CRM success through organizational variables. Also, total indirect effects influencing CRM success are equal to 0.69. 6.4. Separation model in the significance level 283
7. Conclusion The results of the test indicated that our model is in an appropriate condition in terms of significance index and it is supported, since RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) is less than 0.08. Based on these facts, the results of hypotheses test which are derived from the model are as follows. In the main hypothesis which investigates the relationship between knowledge management and the success of customer communications with the intermediatory role of organizational factors, it is shown that there is a positive relationship between knowledge management and the success of communication with customer with the intermediatory role of organizational factors. Also, the amount of this relationship based on the obtained results is equal to 0.65. In the first sub- hypothesis which investigates the relationship between capacities and abilities of knowledge management with organizational factors, it is shown that there is a positive relationship between the capacity and ability of knowledge management and organizational factors. Also, based on the obtained results, the amount of this relationship is equal to 0.45. In the second sub-hypothesis which investigates the relationship between organizational factors and the success of customer communications management, the results indicated that there is a positive relationship between organizational factors and the success of customer communications management. Also, the amount of this relationship based on the obtained results is equal to 0.68. In the third sub-hypothesis which investigates the relationship between management technologies with organizational variables, the results showed that there is a positive relationship between management technologies with organizational variables. Also, the amount of this relationship based on the obtained results is equal to 0.31. In the forth sub-hypothesis which investigates the relationship between customer- orientation and organizational variables, the results showed that there is a positive relationship between customer- orientation and organizational variables. Also, the amount of this relationship based on the obtained results is equal to 0.26. 8. Recommendations for further research According to confirmation of the research hypotheses and observation of the effects of capacity and ability of knowledge management, technology and customer orientation on the success of customer communications management through organizational factors, the following recommendations can be considered. - The organization should provide a channel which is able to establish a constant and mutual communication with the key customers. - The organization should provide some processes to obtain knowledge about customers. - The organization should provide some processes to obtain knowledge for developing new services. - The organization should try to completely analyze the key customer needs through existing knowledge and to obtain optimal solutions. - The organization should increase the speed of making decision through obtaining access to knowledge about the customers. 284
9. References [1]Sanayei, A. & Sadidi, M. (2011). "Investigation of Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) Dimensions: A Survey Research". International Journal of Business and Management, 6 (11): 234-239. [2]Ahn, J.Y., Kim, S.K. & Han, K.S, (2003), On the design conceps for CRM system, Journal of Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 324-321. [3]Ngai, E.W.T., (2004), Customer relationship management research, Journal of Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 582-605. [4]Seeman, E.D. & O Hara, M., (2006), Customer relationship management in higher education Using information systems to improve the student-school relationship, Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 24-34. 285