Social Listening Practices towards Social CRM and Customer Relationship Performance in the Fast-Food Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study is carried out to identify the impact of social listening practices on social CRM and customer relationship performance in the fast-food industry in Sri Lanka. The target population for this study included the internal stakeholders from the organizations in the fast-food industry located in the Colombo metropolitan area which uses social media. The data was obtained via a structured questionnaire using a sample of 150 registered organizations. The time horizon was cross-sectional, and data were analyzed through both descriptive and inferential analysis. Based on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Capabilities Based Perspective, especially the dynamic capabilities theories, the conceptual model of this research study was developed by expecting that, organizations in the fast-food industry in Sri Lanka can exploit capabilities which are social listening practices and social CRM capabilities and resources which are customer relationship orientation and social media technology usage to obtain higher customer relationship performance.  Further, gain a competitive advantage over their competitors by effectively utilizing such resources. This is one of the few papers to exclusively focus on the impact of social listening practices on social CRM and customer relationship performance in the fast-food industry in Sri Lanka. The findings of this study have important implications for the fast-food industry in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management (CRM); Customer Relationship Orientation (CRO); Customer Relationship Performance; Social Customer Relationship Management (Social CRM) capabilities; Social media technology; Fast-food industry