Customer relationship management for brand commitment and brand loyalty

This article examined the impact of customer relationship management strategy on customers brand commitment and brand loyalty in the Nigeria financial sector. Methodology: the positivist quantitative survey approach was used to collect primary for this research. Simple random sampling was used to select 250 customers of Nigerian deposit accepting banks. Findings: the study found that CRM strategy impacts positively on banks’customers brand commitment and loyalty behaviours. However, continuance loyalty weighted highly positive on customer advocacy behaviour than affective loyalty. Conclusions: the study concluded that customer relationship management strategy helps in winning customers brand commitment and loyalty. Thus, continuance factors are suitable for predicting advocacy intentions of customers of Nigerian banks. Recommendations: the study recommended for strategic policy makers in the Nigeria financial sector to improve on their firms’ CRM infrastructure in order to continually meet customers’ expectations. KEYWORDS: Customer relationship management, customer advocacy, brand commitment, loyalt

Customer Relationship Management and Service Quality: Influences in Higher Education

This study with international students in the UK Higher Education (HE) sector adopts a qualitative research approach to examine the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) and service quality. From the literature six construct themes for measuring customer relationship management were suggested and the interview data with focus groups from a university in the north of Britain were analysed using a thematic template analysis technique. The study showed that an effective CRM programme to improve service quality has the ability of inducing positive advocacy behaviour from its international students. The paper makes a recommendation for policy makers in the higher education sector to embrace investment in CRM

Reflecting on the Debates and Action of mixed methods adoption in Business Research: Researchers should start thinking

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the philosophical arguments underpinning the choice of mixed method [MM] research design. However, the study concluded that mixing research methods in business research is important as it helps to strengthen findings and recommendations arising from a given research study. More so, we recommend for postgraduate researchers to rationalise their choice of mixing methods based on complementarities, research priority, purpose and the implementation of findings and not on the basis of philosophical ontology and epistemology. This has been found to be the reason underpinning the much lauded arguments in the adoption of mix methods

Customer Appreciation Strategy: Conceptualizing the Model for Measurement

Several definitions and descriptions exist as to the meaning of Customer appreciation strategy (CAS), but we view customer appreciation strategy as a marketing tactics used by organizations to win customer loyalty and brand commitment over its product and service offerings. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a working model for implementing customer appreciation strategy in research; profit oriented firms as well as the nonprofit making organizations. Overall, the paper conceptualized three domains for CAS implementation, among which includes: service personalization; internal customer reward system and external customer reward system. We concluded therefore that CAS tactics is viable for use in attaining business goals and objectives, the paper recommends for industry players to adopt the three domains of CAS in planning CAS programs, because it presents high possibility and potentials for business growth and attraction of competitive advantage (Impact Evaluation:- Post Customer Appreciation Strategy Implementation outcomes). Key words: Customer Appreciation Strategy, Service Personalization, Internal Customer Reward, External Customer Reward

Internal Marketing Strategy and Employee Performance

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of internal marketing strategy on employee performance. More specifically, the study adopted the Greene et al (1994) domains of internal marketing such as: internal marketing promotion and reward systems as the predictor variable, while affective organizational commitment was adopted as the study moderating variable and employee performance as the criterion variable. The study adopted the quantitative research approach with the use of questionnaire instrument to elicit data from the target population; thereafter 150 employees were systematically selected from 10 service firms in the aviation sector located at the Port Harcourt International Airport of Nigeria; five insider contact men were used to distribute the questionnaire instrument. 126 units of the questionnaire were retrieved as used; the data generated were also analyzed using the Pearson Product moment Correlation Coefficient and Simple Regression with the support of SPSS version 18 to analyze the core data. Finding showed that internal marketing promotion has significant and positive impact on employee performance. Also, internal marketing reward systems showed a positive and significant impact on employee performance and a positive correlation was found between affective organizational commitment and employee performance. Therefore, this study has validated that internal marketing strategy is a strong tool for wining employee’s commitment to work especially in the Nigeria Aviation sector. , it recommend for the stakeholders and managers of firms in the Nigerian aviation industry to engage the internal marketing strategy to motivate its employees to be optimally productive. Also, the managers of the firm should play the transformational leadership roles to its employees rather than the transactional leadership style which has the possibility of declining employees work performance. However, the implication of implementing this study recommendations are that employees’ performance in terms of productivity will be enhanced. KEYWORDS: Internal Marketing; Affective Organizational Commitment; Internal Marketing Promotion; Reward Systems; Employee Performance; Aviation &Nigeri

The Impact of Customer Appreciation Service on Customer Loyalty Patronage: Evidence from Nigeria Financial Sector

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of customer appreciation service on customer loyalty patronage from the Nigeria financial sector. The survival and growth of organizations largely depend on the success of the marketing strategies it employs from time to time. Customer appreciation service CAS which is a subset of customer relationship management is regarded as a viable competitive tool for survival and growth in contemporary business. Customer Appreciation Service means a day(s) set aside by firms to appreciate / honour their customers by giving them gifts for their patronage over time. It is also aimed at positively influencing repeat purchase behaviour. The data for this study was collected from 400 customers randomly selected from sampled banks in Port Harcourt Nigeria; and 380 properly completed questionnaire were retrieved and used. The finding revealed that customer appreciation service impact on customer loyalty patronage. The Finding further revealed that the banks need to segment the celebration packages issued on CAS day(s). The study recommended that policy makers and banks managers should at least annually celebrate CAS, and also segment the gift items they give to customers on CAS day(s). There is also a need for banks to improve upon the products / services quality offered to their target market. This is because, quality service plus customer appreciation service result to customer loyalty patronage. Key words: Customer Appreciation Service (CAS), Customer Loyalty Patronage (CLP), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A Comparative Consumer Study of Firms’ CRM Practices and Marketing Effectiveness in the Mobile Telecommunications Sectors of Nigeria and the UK

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to carry out a comparative consumer study of firms’ CRM practices and Marketing Effectiveness (ME) in the Mobile Telecommunications (MT) sectors of Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The research contribution as explained by Corley and Gioa (2011) has guided this thesis as the underlying facets of theory are bound in a statement of concepts and interrelationships to explain how and why a phenomenon has occurred. The research contribution of the thesis is explained in detail in Chapter One, Section 1.0: Introduction and 1.1: Theoretical Background of the Study. The adoption of Consumer Utility Theory and Institutional Theory culminating in CRMBT informs and guides the research work in analysing consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, how firms behave and what influences arising from businesses have impact on consumers. Examples of business pressures are in the form of cultural rules, beliefs, symbols, rituals and power structures with survival dependent on loyalty to other institutional pressures (Scott, 1987; DiMaggio and Powell, 1991b). Studies discussed in the literature have shown that firms’ CRM practices are affected by institutional pressures, thus demonstrating the emergence of CRMBT and how it would help to mediate internal institutional forces (DiMaggio and Powell, 1991b; Ernest and Young, 2001; Chen and Popovich, 2003; ElGohary et al. 2013; Keramati and Shapulli, 2015). Consumer Utility Theory as described by Fishburn (1987) is adopted in this study because it helps in understanding the rationale behind consumer satisfaction and retention decisions. Ultimately, Consumer Utility Theory is linked with Institutional Theory as both internal and external institutional pressures shape consumer satisfaction and retention decisions positively or negatively. The thesis’s contribution uniquely linked all three to explain the phenomena under investigation. Within the last two decades the use of mobile phones and other mobile devices have risen dramatically as the phenomenally successful mobile phone has increased customers and profits for MT companies. The sample in the study included three face to face qualitative consumer focus groups in Port Harcourt Nigeria with 23 interviewees (8,7,8) and three face to face consumer focus groups in Huddersfield town UK of 22 interviewees (10,5,7). The justifications for comparing telecommunications service experiences of users in both towns are due to their shared similarities in terms of economic viability and adult population of telecommunications consumer. The data for the study were analysed using the thematic template technique and facilitated with Nvivo 10. From the Nigerian study it was found that mobile telecommunication firms’ CRM practices were weak for their consumers, which had negatively impacted on these firms’ marketing effectiveness over the years. Secondly, the study found that the factors underpinning the negative practices by Nigerian mobile telecoms operators were mainly externally motivated. This led to the emergence of six themes to include: service price; consumer privacy; complaints management; service courtesy; service quality and service personalisation. From the UK study it was found that MT firms’ CRM practices were fair towards their consumer and these practices had positive impact on consumer satisfaction and retention behaviours. This led to the emergence of seven themes which include: service quality, service upgrade, service price, service personalisation, service evaluation, complaints management and understanding customer expectations. The key theoretical contributions of this doctoral research are in Institutional Theory, Consumer Utility Theory and CRMBT respectively. The transformational CRM behaviour model is depicted on Figure 6.1 for theoretical and practical explorations. Drawing upon existing CRM literature this is the first doctoral study that has compared the CRM practices of MT firms concerning consumers in Nigeria and the UK using the qualitative focus group approach, which leads to developing a transformational CRM behaviour model. The recommendations of this thesis pertaining to the MT operators and the telecommunications regulatory agencies in Nigeria and the UK are provided. Individual themes from each of the study contexts are analysed and displayed in the Nvivo data

Customer Relationship Management and Service Quality: a qualitative study

This study examined customer relationship management effectiveness and Service quality on international customers in a single University in the UK higher education sector. We adopted the qualitative research design with focus group interview approach. Focus group discussions were carried out with twelve purposively sample units of analysis from the case University. The study primary data was analysed using thematic template technique with Nvivo 10. The study found that the CRM programme of the case University is effective following the various students‟ oriented social and academic programs. Findings also showed that its CRM program influenced international students‟ satisfaction and positive advocacy behaviour. The study found six emerging themes for evaluating customer relationship management effectiveness in the higher education sector. Thus, recommended the need for strategic policy makers in the higher education sector to enhance investments on building stronger customer relationship management infrastructure.KEYWORDS: Customer Relationship Management, Service Quality, Qualitative Stud

A quantitative study on the influence of breadth of open innovation, on SME's product-service performance: the moderating effect of type of innovation

The study investigates the influence of breadth of open innovation strategy on product and service performance of UK SMEs and how the relationship is affected by the type of innovation. The respondents were 72 senior employees randomly sampled from SMEs in UK manufacturing sector. We collected primary data using survey questionnaire. Multiple regression technique through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyse the data. We found that breadth of open innovation have curvilinear relationship to both incremental and radical product performance. Also, results showed that incremental as well as radical innovation moderates the influence of breadth of open innovation on the product performance. We concluded that adoption of optimum breadth of open innovation strategy supports SMEs’ product-service performance. We recommended that SMEs’ policy-makers should adopt a balanced breadth of open innovation strategy in order to foster the achievement of their product performance goals, depending on the particular type of innovation they intend to achieve

Cashless system, users' perception and retail marketing performance

This study examines the impact of the cashless system on user’s perception and retail marketing performance in Nigeria retail sector. The study used survey instrument (questionnaire) and randomly selected 550 samples as to generate data on the impact of cashless systems on user’ perception and retail marketing performance in Nigeria. The questionnaire instrument was designed for two categories of respondents (customers and managers) of the selected retail outlets in Nigeria. The study found that the two measures of cashless business have positive influence on the measures of retail marketing performance, while consumers perceive that the new system will be disadvantageous to the consumers in the short run but beneficial in the long run. The study concluded that the cashless system is in line with international banking best practices as it will reduce the high cost of business operations for retail businesses in terms of employees, provision of security and will boost retail investments opportunities in Nigeria. The study recommended for the Central Bank of Nigeria to collaborate with the money deposit banks’ as well as telecommunications firms to provide quality services as to militate customers’ purchase experiences in using E-platforms as conceptualized in the researchers’ E-payment systems implementation models