Toward a conceptual model for examining the role of social media on social customer relationship management (SCRM) system

Abstract

Organizations worldwide are becoming more interested in utilizing social media applications to enhance their marketing capabilities. One of the main fruits of integrating social media applications into the marketing, information technology and information systems areas is social customer relationship management (SCRM). SCRM has been the focus of attention for both marketing academics and practitioners. However, as this area is quite new, there is a need to propose a theoretical foundation explaining how using social media platforms for SCRM systems could predict customer engagement and customer relationship performance. Three main factors, i.e. social media use, a customer-centric management system, and relationship marketing orientation, are considered as key predictors of SCRM. SCRM is proposed as a key determinant of customer engagement, which in turn affects customer relationship performance. The proposed research methodology suggests conducting a quantitative study to validate the current study model. Further discussion regarding the research contribution and main limitations are provided in the last sections.