Abstract
The rise of social media technology has led to new customer relationship management tools that engage customers more easily and directly (social customer relationship management, SCRM). However, the usefulness of SCRM is contingent upon a successful adoption by an organization. Various technology adoption theoretical frameworks have been proposed for social media technologies generally, and for SCRM specifically. This paper extends the literature by exploring network externalities as a potential driver of SCRM adoption in organizations by surveying 363 supply chain professionals regarding their behaviors and uses of SCRM. The results suggest that network externalities have a substantial effect on adoption of SCRM in business organizations and that a perception of higher network externalities has a positive effect on adoption. This implies that organizations should select SCRM systems with better network externalities and also that they should educate their workforce about those strong network externalities leading up to the adoption.
Highlights
Much has been written about the rising importance of customer relationship management (CRM) in augmenting a company’s ability to interact with its customers and potential customers
The recent emergence and growing popularity of social media has introduced a new element into CRM
The objective of this study is to investigate network externality as an antecedent that impacts social CRM (SCRM) adoption and to describe its impact
Summary
Much has been written about the rising importance of customer relationship management (CRM) in augmenting a company’s ability to interact with its customers and potential customers. The application of CRM contributes to the acquisition and retention of customers for the company through identification and satisfaction of the customers’ needs; it facilitates the communication between the company and their customers [1] This is a peer-to-peer capability where the company directly interacts with one customer. When the companies or their related products are communicated via LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter accounts, companies can track and manage the conversation, respond more quickly and better, and anticipate the customers’ or potential customers’ needs. This leads to positive spillover effects through social media pages where
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