The Impact of Customer Relationship Management and Company Reputation on Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Customer Satisfaction

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) and company reputation on customer loyalty with customer satisfaction mediating the relation among small and medium-sized enterprises. Customer satisfaction is essential for company reputation and loyalty because a company’s reputation largely depends on customer satisfaction in turbulent markets. Therefore, the current study is conducted in the Pakistani context to examine the customer believes regarding the company reputation. Due to uncertainty in the Pakistani market, no company can go smoothly in this turbulent market. To achieve the main objective of the study, data were collected from registered firms operationalized in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and verified by the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA). Structured questionnaires were employed and total 345 questionnaires were distributed among the top management and 217 responses were received. After excluding those responses which were missing and not correctly completed, the remaining 181 were used for final analysis. For hypothesis testing, AMOS was used. Hence, our findings suggest that customer relationship management and company reputation have a positive and significant impact on customer loyalty. Additionally, customer satisfaction partially mediates the relation among customer relationship management, company reputation and customer loyalty. Hence, this study offers some suggestions to policymakers and practitioners. They should build deep trust among the company’s staff, which will become a good source of company reputation. In addition, different steps such as advertising, public relations and marketing campaigns are significant in changing customer’s behaviors.