Discussion of the Results

The literature recognizes two potential benefits that firms can achieve from developing a CRM orientation: (1) increased efficiency in the allocation of

resources destined for relationship building and maintenance activities, and (2) enhanced exchange relationship outcomes through the provision of superior customer value (Zablah et al. 2004b). This effort focused on the latter of these purported benefits and examined the following two fundamental questions:

1. Does a CRM orientation influence the outcome of customer-provider relationship outcomes and, if so, how?

2. Does CRM technology have an effect on the relative success of CRM initiatives?

Building on interactive communications theory and dyadic data, a conceptual model of “CRM success” was advanced and tested in an attempt to address these questions. The study’s results, while not entirely expected, provide valuable insight regarding the impact that a CRM orientation and related

More precisely, the data suggests that: (1) a CRM orientation is inversely related to the quality of provider-emitted messages (as perceived by customers), (2) the quality of provider-emitted messages is positively related to customer-perceived relationship value which, in turn, has a positive effect on relationship quality and—ultimately—customers’ behavioral intentions, and (3) the relationship between a CRM orientation and message quality is not contingent upon the extent to which CRM technology has been assimilated within firms. Each of these findings is subsequently discussed in the paragraphs that follow.

The ever-growing prevalence of CRM practices within organizations has, in part, been driven by the assumption that engaging in such activities enables providers to productively manage heterogeneous customer portfolios (Zablah, Bellenger, and Johnston 2004a). In other words, the working theory is that as firms’ level of CRM orientation increases, their ability to foster mutually-beneficial relationships with different types of customers (i.e. their ability to develop a maximally-profitable, heterogeneous customer portfolio) should also increase. The results of this study suggest that this is an erroneous assumption. More precisely, they indicate that when a heterogeneous customer population is involved, firms’ level of CRM orientation is inversely related to customer- perceived message quality. Given that message quality influences the

relationship perceptions and attitudes which are thought to be the proximal cause of customers’ behavioral intentions, a CRM orientation appears to have a

In addition, the data also suggests that the association between CRM orientation and message quality differs across customer sub-groups. That is, firms’ level of CRM orientation appears to be positively related to message quality among larger customers (i.e. key accounts) and inversely related to message quality among small and medium-sized accounts. Thus, instead of helping promote the development of a heterogeneous customer portfolio, it appears that—at least within this context—a CRM orientation strengthens key account relationships but actually weakens those with small and mid-sized accounts. From a strategic perspective, this finding is somewhat intuitive: firms have limited amount of resources and thus cannot be “all things to all customers.” Consequently, as firms’ level of CRM orientation increases, their better-

developed knowledge stores allow them to engage in resource prioritization and, evidently, they do so at the expense of their relatively less important accounts.

In terms of the role of technology in organizational CRM efforts, the initial expectation was that the extent to which CRM tools have been assimilated within firms would moderate the CRM orientation-message quality relationship. More specifically, it was hypothesized that as CRM technology assimilation increased, the association between CRM orientation and message quality would strengthen and vice-versa. This expectation stemmed from the assumption that firms are capable of managing exchange relationship without the aid of technology and, hence, its assimilation would only serve to enhance the productivity of

organizational CRM processes. However, the data did not support the expected moderating role—in fact, it revealed that much like CRM orientation, the extent of

CRM technology assimilation within firms is antecedent to and inversely related to message quality. This finding (1) suggests that the execution of CRM

processes within organizations is much more closely-linked to the assimilation of CRM technology than was previously expected, and (2) is consistent with the notion that the successful implementation of (the somewhat complex) CRM processes within firms is made possible by the new functionality afforded by

previously unavailable CRM technology (cf. Broadbent, Weill, and St. Clair 1999). Finally, it is important to note that the proposed conceptual model posited and the data supported a key mediating role for the construct “customer-

perceived relationship value (CPRV).” Consistent with interactive

communications theory (e.g. Duncan and Moriarty 1998; Gronroos 2000a), the quality of provider-emitted messages was thought to indirectly influence

customers’ relationship attitudes, perceptions and behavioral intentions through its effect on CPRV. This finding is important not only because it is consistent with extant theory but more so because it underscores the overriding importance of customer value in business-to-business exchange relationships (Ulaga 2003; Ulaga 2001). In terms of the three types of provider-emitted messages which were considered in this study, a comparison of their standardized SEM

coefficients suggests that the quality of product messages is more closely associated with CPRV than either service or planned message quality. Stated differently, product message quality appears to be highly influential in

determining customers’ value perceptions within the telecommunications

least closely associated with CPRV. This latter finding is consistent with communications theory which argues that easily controllable messages (e.g. planned messages) are less likely to have an impact on CPRV than those messages (e.g. service messages) which are more difficult for firms to control (Gronroos 2000a; Lindberg-Repo and Gronroos 2004).