Social customer relationship management (s-CRM) among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia

Purpose - In this twenty-first century, the emergence of social media has been integral in business-related processes, especially in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which allows businesses to interact and build a relationship with customers to improve their sustainable service quality. Concisely, this study aims to examine the benefits of social customer relationship management (s-CRM) performance from the perceptive of SMEs owned by Muslims. Design/methodology/approach - A survey method was used and the data were gathered from 135 SMEs which participated in Halfest (Halal Fiesta Malaysia) trade show in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Findings - Interestingly, the results revealed that the adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) has both direct and indirect impacts on s-CRM performance. On the other hand, the perceived value of s-CRM mediates the relationship between customer information management and performance of s-CRM. In this context, the perceived value was ascertained to be an influential factor for both ICT adoption and customer information management. Research limitations/implications - With a connection to the results, this study concludes that to enhance business performance to sustain in the marketplace, the establishment of s-CRM is crucial, as it has significant implication in marketing, customer service and sales department of SMEs. Originality/value - This paper provides new insight into the importance of s-CRM to SMEs to improve interactions with the key stakeholders and convey meaningful insight to instil customer-centric practices.