Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The current research aims to answer the following question: To what extent and under what conditions does hiring consultants to implement a customer relationship management (CRM) system produce performance gains for companies? To answer this question, this research delves into the critical interdependent roles of CRM consultant resources (CR) and user involvement (UI) in overcoming CRM's technological and organizational implementation challenges.


Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative field study methodology was used to empirically test the research hypotheses. Cross-sectional data (N = 126) were collected from large client companies using CRM technology. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to estimate the significance levels of the structural model.


Findings
The findings indicate that the extent to which CRM consultants improve CRM system quality (SQ) and, ultimately, firm performance, largely depends on UI, which acts as the key facilitating mechanism to cope with application complexity (APP) and requirements uncertainty (REQ).


Originality/value
This research probes into the largely unexplored interactions between CRM CR, UI, APP and REQ. Using these parameters, this model successfully predicts CRM SQ and firm performance.

PurposeTo develop and propose a conceptual model that explains why downstream channel members (e.g. retailers) are likely to adopt or resist the implementation of emerging partner relationship management (PRM) technologies by their channel counterparts (i.e. suppliers).Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual model is grounded in organizational innovation theory and utilizes select case examples to support posited relationships.FindingsResellers' level of commitment to new PRM tools deployed by suppliers is likely to be driven by their perception of the technology's impact on the equity (i.e. fairness) and efficiency (i.e. cost) of existing channel relationships. In turn, resellers' perceptions about the equity and efficiency implications of PRM technology adoption are expected to be influenced by several factors, including: environmental factors, suppliers' choice of influence strategies and the characteristics of the exchange relationship.Research limitations/implicationsAside from offering several testable propositions, the paper also raises various questions that are worthy of investigation, such as: To what extent (if at all) do boundary‐spanning technologies alter the basic nature of channel relationships? Can the deployment of PRM tools simultaneously lead to both greater channel conflict and coordination? Do differences in reseller commitment result when different implementation partners (i.e. third‐party software firms) handle the deployment of the technology across geographic regions?Originality/valueThe paper builds on the inter‐organizational concepts of equity and efficiency to offer a new perspective on the adoption of boundary‐spanning technologies in a channel setting.

The literature establishes that customer and frontline employee (FLE) emotions converge during their encounters as a result of a transient, contagion-based process in which emotions flow from one actor to another. Recent evidence suggests, however, that this transient process does not produce emotional convergence among frontline dyads engaged in ongoing exchange, a surprising finding, given the wealth of evidence in support of the idea that customers and FLEs engaged in relational exchange strongly influence one another. In light of this evidence, we argue here that customers and FLEs engaged in ongoing exchange experience similar emotions not as a result of the transient transfer of emotions, but because they develop the tendency to undergo a similar emotional response to relationship events, a phenomenon we call the shared frontline experience. Informed by the social psychology literature, we support this idea by advancing a conceptual model that highlights the role of relationship closeness, personality similarity, and dyadic attachment style in producing the shared frontline experience. The proposed model also suggests that firms stand to benefit from the shared frontline experience of customers and FLEs if they provide the dyad with autonomy, a decision not without risk. Future research directions suggested by this perspective are discussed.