THE IMPACT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CRM STRATEGY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Currently, firms are trying to improve customer relationships by investing in CRM strategies to gain a competitive advantage and influence consumer behaviour. The current study contributes to attenuate a gap identified in the literature, namely the lack of an integrated conceptual model that assesses the effect of a combined implementation of the different dimensions that compose a CRM strategy, respectively, customer management, organizational alignment, CRM technology and CRM strategy implementation, on consumer behaviour, instead of carrying out an isolated analysis of them. Additionally, the present research intends to overcome the lack of studies in the CRM literature focused on the company's perspective since a large part of the previous studies were carried out from the consumer perspective. An online survey was conducted among Portuguese companies, collecting 128 valid responses. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM). Our findings demonstrate that an integrated implementation of CRM dimensions significantly and positively influences WOM, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. In addition, it was possible to confirm that innovation orientation and brand equity directly impact consumer behaviour. Therefore, the present investigation shows that the dimensions of CRM, namely, customer management, organizational alignment, CRM technology and CRM strategy implementation, work together to improve the customer experience.