Title:
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (SCRM) USAGE ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY: A CASE OF HOTELS IN SRI LANKA

Authors:
B.S. Hettiarachchy, Maduka Udunuwara*, Sri Lanka

Abstract:

The emergence of social media has given rise to social customer relationship management (SCRM). Adopting SCRM is apparent in the hotel sector due to the interactive nature of relationships and its contribution to creating sustainable competitive advantages. This study's objectives were to measure the impact of SCRM usage on customer loyalty (CL) and investigate the moderating effect of generational cohorts on the above relationship due to the scant attention paid by scholars. This study adopted a deductive approach, and the data were collected from domestic tourists through an online questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results indicate an impact of SCRM usage on CL among domestic tourists, and this relationship is moderated by the generational cohorts where SCRM usage has displayed a significant effect on loyalty among Generation Y. The above findings generate novel insights into the existing literature. The inference of this research can be used to enhance SCRM further to generate customer loyalty, and the inference of this research can be used to enhance the customer loyalty of the hotel sector.