Title: CRM index: an effective weapon for relationship enhancement

Authors: Arun Kumar Agariya; Deepali Singh

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Rajasthan 333031, India ' ABV-IIITM, Gwalior 474015, M.P., India

Abstract: A reliable and valid CRM (customer relationship management) index is developed in this paper. A standard methodology for scale development was followed; further to this the CRM index is developed through a case based method along with the customer and service provider weights. The findings clearly depict CRM as a multidimensional construct comprising factors namely claim payment security, knowledge about products, personalisation, transparency in product selling and service quality. A fair amount of literature on the Indian insurance sector dealt with identifying factors explaining the constructs of quality, value and satisfaction. But there is a paucity of research pertaining to industry-specific CRM index specifically catering to the Indian insurance sector. The proposed index will help in identifying issues that contribute to CRM and thereby formulating strategies accordingly, resulting in effective and efficient practices. The scores from organisational as well as customer's perspectives can be calculated so as to get newer insights.

Keywords: customer relationship management; CRM scale; CRM index; India; insurance industry; exploratory factor analysis; confirmatory factor analysis; structural equation modelling; SEM; claim payment security; product knowledge; personalisation; selling transparency; service quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJFSM.2013.058067

International Journal of Financial Services Management, 2013 Vol.6 No.3, pp.179 - 199

Accepted: 29 Jul 2013
Published online: 13 Sep 2014 *

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