Effect of human resource capabilities on customer relationship management in private hospitals in Kenya

The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of human resource capabilities on customer relationship management in private hospitals in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. It targeted 161 private hospitals which are accredited by NHIF in Kenya and which formed the unit of analysis of the study. Simple random sampling was then be used to obtain the 644 respondents. The researcher utilized a structured questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale to gather the data. The collected data were coded and entered in SPSS for further analysis. Descriptive and inferential analysis was conducted. The findings found there is indeed a positive statistically significant relationship between human resource capability and customer relationship management. However, human resource capabilities had the least effect with 31.5% implying that most private hospitals either do not have enough staff, the reward system is not adequate, there is no staff involvement, or either there is no career progression and therefore staff was not satisfied. This can also imply that the managements were keener on other drivers that are directly involved in customers like information technology infrastructure. The study recommends that hospitals should stand out from the competitors by hiring highly skilled staff as well as embracing an integrated patient-centric efficient care delivery for the successful delivery of effective CRM. Managers should recognize that human resource capability is valuable, rare, irreplaceable, and difficult to imitate; therefore, it is crucial for creating sustainable competitive advantages, and if utilized appropriately, it can improve the CRM of an organization.