Modelling Electronic Customer Relationship Management

Behaviour & Information Technology Vol. 28, No. 4, July–August 2009, 373–387

Modelling electronic customer relationship management success: functional and temporal considerations
M. Khalifaa* and K.N. Shenb a Information Systems Department, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong; bDepartment of Management Information Systems, Abu Dhabi University, PO Box 59911, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Received 23 November 2006; final version received 26 January 2008) Previous information systems satisfaction research predominantly focused on generic technological attributes, failing to account for the specificity of the artefact. Furthermore, viewing satisfaction as a static evaluation state, the prevalent cross-sectional approach could not account for the dynamic nature of satisfaction. In this study, we address these gaps by following a functional approach and taking a temporal view in developing and testing a model explaining the effects of various types of electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) functions on customer satisfaction in the context of online shopping. A framework based on the transaction cycle is used to classify eCRM functions into pre-, at-, and post-purchase eCRM. Two distinct temporal phases, i.e. attraction and retention, are identified. The results of a longitudinal survey involving 670 customers of hardware retailers demonstrate the appropriateness of the functional approach in investigating eCRM success and the necessity of the temporal conceptualisation of customer satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. Keywords: online customer satisfaction; electronic customer relationship management; information systems success

1.

Introduction

As organisations are transforming from product- or brand-centric marketing to a relational-centric approach, the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) is hardly questioned. Taking a broad view, CRM

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