ABSTRACT:
The paper analyzed the impacts of Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM) activity to quality and outcome relationship between bank and customers. 381 customers of Vietinbank in the Mekong Delta were interviewed by statification sampling method. The results showed that there were five factors of quality and outcome relationship between banks and customers. They were belief, satisfaction, commitment, loyalty, and benefit value of customer retention. ECRM activity had a positive impact on quality and outcome relationship through customer-bank service attributes. The paper contributed to the theory of ECRM and giave recommendations on enhancing the quality and outcome relationship between banks and customers.
Keywords: Electronic Customer Relationship Management, quality and outcome relationship, customer.
1. Introduction
In recent years, the development of information technology has made the business environment changes in the direction of fast, cheap and most effective. To get advantage of information technology, managers apply information technology (Internet) into their businesses. Many researchers have demonstrated that every 5% of customer retention rates will increase profits from 25-95% of profits (Reichheld, 1996; Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). Consequently, customer retention can be effective through customer relationship management. This activity is easier and more effective through the use of information technology called Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM).
Researches on ECRM have developed models for measuring the impact of ECRM actions on customer satisfaction and loyalty (Phavaphan et al., 2011, Hyun and Linsey, 2013). In Vietnam, there are many studies on the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) on customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, there is very little research on ECRM as well as the impact of this activity on the quality and outcome of the relationship between bank and customer. In addition, the research has not emphasized much on the factors of security, social factors, and cross-buying factors in the banking sector. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the impact of ECRM actions on the quality and outcome of the relationship between banks and customers through the attributes of the products and services. The study is conducted for the case of Vietinbank in the Mekong Delta. This is one of the biggest banks in Vietnam which has modernized and applied information technology in the whole system. The study provides further evidence and supports the theory of ECRM. The research results are expected to contribute to the theoretical model of the relationship between ECRM and the quality and outcomes relationship between banks and customers in the case of Vietnam. In addition, the results will help bank managers better understand the importance of ECRM as well as give some recommendations to enhance the relationship between banks and customers.
2. Research methodology
2.1. Data collection methods
Secondary data is collected from statistical data sources, which are related to research issues. Primary data is collected by interviewing directly 381 individual customers using Vietinbank's products and services in Can Tho, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Hau Giang provinces in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam by using stratification random sampling method.
2.2. Data analysis methods
Some analytical methods are used in this study such as descriptive statistics, Cronbachs Alpha tests; exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmative factor analysis (CFA) methods to eliminate unsatisfactory variables from the research model. Then Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis is used to evaluate the impact of ECRM activity in the research model.
2.3. Research model
The paper builds the model based on the research of Phavaphan et al., (2011), and added two sets of service attributes according to the client's assessment: security factor and social factor, and cross-selling product/service factor for customer outcomes relationship with the bank. In addition, the benefits of retaining customers are ready to introduce for new customers and can purchase additional banking services (cross-product purchase). Therefore, the study adds benefit value of customer retention factor into the proposed research model.
Develop scale for variables: Through the literature reviews and interviews expert, the paper identifies 13 criteria for assessing ECRM based on customer point of views and service attributes using Likert 5 points scale from 1 absolute not agree to 5 absolute agree.
The quality of relationship scale includes belief, satisfaction, and customer commitment to the bank (Hennig and et al., 2002). The relationship outcomes between the bank and customer is measured by customer loyalty, willingness to continue to use the product/service, willingness to introduce products / services to other people and buy cross products/services.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Sample description
Among 381 clients in this survey, female clients accounted for 54.6% and male clients accounted for 45.4%. It shows the fact that female clients occupy more than male clients of the bank. The different ages of respondents are not much different. The group of age under 20 achieves the highest proportion, accounted for 27%. While the number of people between 20 - 30 years old was 25.7%. In the group of 30 - 40 years old and group older than 40 years old were 23.4% and 23.9%. Educational degree of the respondents is mostly college/university graduates, accounted for nearly 80%, high school and middle school students accounted for 16%, and the remaining was 4%. The occupation of the respondent is distributed equally in the occupational groups. 18.4% were employees and 17.3% were accountants/office workers. 13.6% of interviewees were the self-employed.The same proportion of respondents (17% for each group) was students and housekeepers. The highest percentage group of respondents with income of 5 - 10 million per month accounted for 26.2%. The income less than 5 million VND of respondents accounted for 21%. It is the same proportion with the group of people having income of 10 - 15 million VND per month. The number of respondents with income of 15 - 20 million accounted for 15% and 16.8% for the case of interviewees earning from 20 million/month.
3.2. Analyze the impact of ECRM actions on quality and outcome relationship between banks and customers
+ Assess the reliability of the scale with Cronbach's Alpha
After verifying the reliability of the service attribute scale based on the customer's assessment, the components of the scale are guaranteed reliability with a Cronbachs Alpha coefficient of 0.973 which is greater than 0.6. The total correlation coefficient of the observed variables is greater than 0.3. Similarly, the results of Cronbach's Alpha testing for all scales are both reliable and greater than 0.6. Cronbach's Alpha of the ECRM scale is 0.958. The Cronbachs Alpha for the scale of quality and outcome relationship between the bank and customer are as following: belief (0.917), satisfaction (0.936), commitment (0.931), loyalty (0.862), and benefit value of customer retention (0.947). Therefore, 23 satisfactory observable variables were included in the exploratory factor analysis in the next step.
+ Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
For the quality and outcome relationship between banks and customers, the results of the EFA analysis showed that five groups of factors were extracted as expected with a total variance of 73.05%, the loading factor is greater than 0.5. It's a factor of belief, commitment, satisfaction, loyalty, and benefit value of customer retention. These factors are the inputs for the next step of CFA analysis.
+ Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
The results of the CFA show that the components of the quality and outcome relationship between the bank and customer achieve convergence, reliability and discriminating values. Specifically, the model has 220 degrees of freedom, the Chi-square value is 312,234 with p_value < 0.001 and Chi-square/df = 1,419 < 2. In addition, other values such as CFI = 0.987, TLI = 0.985, GFI = 0.958 and RMSEA = 0.033. These indicators show that the measurement model achieves compatibility with market data. In addition, standardized weights coefficients satisfy the requirement (> 0.5) and are statistically significant with p_value = 0.000. Therefore, these scales reach convergence values. In addition, the 5 components of the scale are discriminative when they satisfy the condition of the correlation coefficient on the overall scale between concepts that differ from 1; the coefficients are less than 1. There is statistical significance with p_value = 0.000. Similarly, these components are reliable when the Cronbachs Alpha coefficients and confidence intervals of the scale components are greater than 0.7 and all variances extracted values are greater than 50%.
Similarly, the paper carries out the same analytical procedure such as condcting EFA, CFA for the ECRM scale and the service attributes scale. The results of these analysises show that these scales meet the statistically significant requirements for the analysis of the SEM method.
+ Structural Equation Modeling Analysis (SEM)
In this section the SEM model is used to determine the effect of ECRM on quality and outcomes relationship, through service attributes based on customer assessment. The results show that the statistical metrics are satisfactory and appropriate for the data collected from the market. In addition, the Bootstrap test methodology was used to test the reliability of the estimated value in the research model, with a repeat sample of 500. The test shows that the results of the estimation in the SEM model are reliable.
The results of SEM show in figure 2 that ECRM activity positively impacts the quality and outcome relationship between customers and banks. In addition, when quality is achieved as desired through the attributes of the product or service that customers value in the process of use, customers will have positive responses to their relationship with the bank. Specifically, the impact is: belief, satisfaction, loyalty, commitment, and benefit value of customer retention. This can be explained that banks focus their investment in customer management through ECRM, they will add value to their product/ service attributes. When customers appreciate the superior features that products/ services bring to them, as the result it will improve customer satisfaction. In other words, when a bank performs well on ECRM, it will not only satisfy customers with their belief in the products and services they are using, but also make them loyalty and commitment with the bank. The bank retains existing customers and entices new customers, thanks to the promotion of customer retention's word of mouth and increased cross-buying products from the bank. The results are consistent with previous studies in banking sector by Phavaphan et al., (2011) and Syafrizal et al., (2011). The results emphasize that when the quality of relationships between banks and customers is good and sustainable, the benefits value of customer retention to the bank are so huge. Bank not only gets profit from retaining customer, but also earns benefits from their relative or friends, from increasing the positive word of mouth and cross-selling the product/service of the bank. Especially in the present stage when the Internet seems indispensable in human life, the implementation of CRM through electronic devices increases the appreciation of the customer for the utility attributes of the product/service of the bank. At the same time, customers will tend to continue using and willingness to experience the new features of products/services offered from the bank once they have appreciated on it.
In addition, the results show that there is a different impact for different career and income of clients that influence the relationships in the research model. Therefore, managers need to care about the professional characteristics and income of customers to develop and implement effective ECRM activity. They can also offer products/services with features and utilities suitable for the above target group of customers, in order to improve the quality and outcome relationship between banks and customers. Finally, the paper gives some recommendations improve the positive impact of ECRM activity by improving the attributes of products/services such as safety and security factors, product/services information, transactions at anytime and anywhere, etc. Through this, the bank will build the beliefs for customers, make customer satisfaction, build loyalty of customers, and earn the benefits value of retaining customer from the bank.
4. Conclusions
The paper conducts a survey for the case of Vietinbank in the Mekong Delta and finds out a strong and positive relationship between: ECRM actions, quality and outcome relationship between bank and customer and service attributes based on the assessments of customer. The research results show that the importance of well-organized ECRM will have a positive effect on the relationship between customer and the bank based on the attributes of the product or service that the customers assess them. These relationships are influenced by the career and income of customers, so managers need to pay attention to these factors in order to build better ECRM programs.
Limitation and further researches: The study only conductes and interviews the respondents who are the customer of the banks. The study has not studied the feelings of customers who no longer use the services of banks. As a result, further research can extend the scope of the research for those customers as well as comparison of ECRM actions among different banks.
REFERENCES:
1. Feinberg, R., & Kadam, R. (2002). E-CRM Web service attributes as determinants of customer satisfaction with retail Web sites. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 13(5), 432 - 451.
2. Hyun Shik Yoon, Linsey M. Barker Steege (2013). Development of a quantitative model of the impact of customers personality and perceoptions on Internet banking use. Computers in Human Behavior 29 (2013) 141 - 157.
3. Kim, J., Suh, E., & Hwang, H. (2003). A model for evaluating the effectiveness of CRM using the balanced scorecard. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 17(2), 5 - 19.
4. Kiniloglu, H., & Zarali, H. (2008). What signifies success in E-CRM: Maketing Intelligent and Planning, 27 (2), 246 - 267.
5. Pan, S. L., & Lee, J. N. (2003). Using e-CRM for a unified view of the customer. Communications of the ACM, 46, 95 - 99.
6. Peppard, J. (2000). Customer relationship management in financial services. European Management Journal, 18, 312 – 327.
7. Phavaphan Sivaraks, Donyaprueth Krairit, John C. S. Tang (2011). Effects of e-CRM on customer - bank relationship quality and outcomes: The case of Thailand. Journal of High Technology Management Research 22 (2011) 141 - 157.
TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA HOẠT ĐỘNG ECRM ĐẾN CHẤT LƯỢNG
VÀ KẾT QUẢ MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA NGÂN HÀNG VÀ KHÁCH HÀNG
● LƯU TIẾN THUẬN
Khoa Kinh tế, Trường Đại học Cần Thơ
TÓM TẮT:
Bài viết đánh giá tác động hoạt động quản lý quan hệ khách hàng điện tử (ECRM) đến chất lượng và kết quả mối quan hệ giữa ngân hàng và khách hàng. 381 khách hàng của Vietinbank ở đồng bằng sông Cửu Long được phỏng vấn theo phương pháp chọn mẫu phân tầng. Kết quả nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng có 05 nhóm nhân tố thuộc khái niệm chất lượng - kết quả mối quan hệ giữa ngân hàng và khách hàng, cụ thể là: niềm tin, sự hài lòng, sự cam kết, lòng trung thành và giá trị ích lợi của việc giữ chân khách hàng. Hoạt động quản lý quan hệ khách hàng điện tử có tác động cùng chiều và trực tiếp đến chất lượng kết quả mối quan hệ giữa ngân hàng và khách hàng qua các thuộc tính sản phẩm dịch vụ. Bài nghiên cứu đóng góp vào lý thuyết quản lý quan hệ khách hàng điện tử và đề xuất một số hàm ý nhằm nâng cao chất lượng và kết quả mối quan hệ giữa khách hàng và ngân hàng.
Từ khóa: Quản lý quan hệ khách hàng điện tử, chất lượng và kết quả mối quan hệ, khách hàng.
Xem tất cả ấn phẩm Các kết quả nghiên cứu khoa học và ứng dụng công nghệ số 10 tháng 09/2017 tại đây