Impact of social media and customer-centric technology on performance outcomes: the mediating role of social CRM capabilities

Abstract

With the emergence of social media technology, the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) has drastically changed, as the majority of the firms are now incorporating social media into their established CRM system, which facilitate the evolution of term social CRM. This article investigates the influence of social media and customer-centric technology on social CRM capabilities. The paper presents empirical evidence for the argument that social CRM capabilities lead to firm performance outcomes; customer-based profit performance and new product development performance. The developed hypothesis and proposed model was tested through structural equation modelling (SEM). The results show that both social media technology and customer-centric technology have a significant influence on social CRM capabilities. Similarly, these social CRM capabilities also found to have a positive effect on customer-based and product-based performance outcomes. This paper will be useful for both academicians and managers, as it presents several theoretical and practical insights.