Does social customer relationship management (SCRM) affect customers’ happiness and retention? A service perspective

The main aim of this study is to examine the effects of social customer relationship management (CRM) on customer happiness and customer retention. To achieve the study objectives, a quantitative research method is adopted in this study to examine the hypotheses by using a survey questionnaire for the purpose of data collection from the target sample of customers of telecommunication firms working in Jordan. The instrument is designed and customized to conduct this study and meet the research objectives. A total of 319 valid and reliable responses are returned and they are analyzed using the SEM approach through SmartPLS3 software to examine the hypotheses. The findings reveal significant and positive effects of the most social CRM elements studied on customer happiness and the customer happiness influenced customer retention. The study contributes to the respective research field with further better understanding of the role of social CRM to increase customer happiness and retain long term relationships with them.