Impact of customers' interpersonal interactions in social commerce on customer relationship management performance

Abstract

PurposeSocial commerce is a subpart of electronic commerce (e-commerce), where social media is forced to support user contributions. The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of customers' interpersonal interactions in social commerce on customer relationship management (CRM) performance, based on the flow, commitment-trust and stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theories.Design/methodology/approachOn the basis of the SOR framework, the authors developed a study model to determine the impact on CRM performance of customers' interpersonal interactions in social commerce. The primary data of the study were collected from 640 users of social commerce through a web questionnaire during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic situation, and the authors tested the study model using the approach of covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsResults of the current study reveal that customers' interpersonal interactions in social commerce optimistically influence their perceived flow. Moreover, perceived flow absolutely controls users' trust and CRM performance. In turn, collective users' trust positively influences users' commitment and CRM performance. Finally, collective users' commitment absolutely influences the performance of CRM.Practical implicationsThe authors provide a valuable contribution to the theoretical field of online marketing and CRM. Besides, the findings of this study are relevant for marketers to know the issues for increasing customer trust, commitment and performance of CRM.Originality/valueThe current study develops a model based on the flow, commitment-trust and stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theories. The authors' research is the first to estimate the effect of customers' interpersonal interactions in social commerce on CRM performance.