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Journal of Relationship Marketing
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Customer Relationship Management Theory and

Research in the New Millennium: Directions for
Future Research
Rajarshi Debnath, Biplab Datta & Susmita Mukhopadhyay
To cite this article: Rajarshi Debnath, Biplab Datta & Susmita Mukhopadhyay (2016)
Customer Relationship Management Theory and Research in the New Millennium:
Directions for Future Research, Journal of Relationship Marketing, 15:4, 299-325, DOI:
10.1080/15332667.2016.1209053
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JOURNAL OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
, VOL. , NO. , –
http://dx.doi.org/./..
Customer Relationship Management Theory and Research

in the New Millennium: Directions for Future Research
Rajarshi Debnath , Biplab Datta, and Susmita Mukhopadhyay
Vinod Gupta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
This article focuses on the research conducted in customer rela- customer loyalty; customer
tionship management (CRM) from 2000 to 2014 in six top-tier aca- relationship management;
demic publishing journals: Journal of Relationship Marketing, Jour- customer retention; future
research directions;
nal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research,
information systems;
Journal of Advertising Research, and Journal of Consumer Research. information technology;
A total of 371 research papers related to CRM have been pub- marketing; sales; service &
lished in these six journals from 2000 to 2014. Five subject head- support; theories
ings/keywords (i.e., customer relationship management; market-
ing; sales, service and support; information systems (IS); informa-
tion technology (IT)) have been taken into consideration, from
which 196 research papers have been reviewed. The theories used
in these papers are discussed, as well as possible directions for
future research in CRM.
Introduction
Customer relationship management (CRM) has become the most dynamic technol-
ogy topic of the millennium. According to Chen and Popovich (2003), CRM is not
a new concept; rather, due to current development and advancements in informa-
tion and enterprise software technology, it has assumed practical importance. The
root of CRM is relationship marketing, which has the objective of improving the
long-term relationship and hence profitability of customers by moving away from
product-centric marketing.
The term “customer relationship management” emerged in the information
technology (IT) vendor and practitioner community in the mid-1990s (Payne &
Frow, 2005). Interest in CRM began to grow in the 1990s (Ling & Yen, 2001). In
the academic community, the terms “relationship marketing” and CRM are often
used interchangeably (Payne & Frow, 2005). The American Marketing Association’s
(AMA) definition of marketing (2013) is: “Marketing is the activity, set of institu-
tions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offer-
ings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.” It stresses
CONTACT Dr. Biplab Datta bd@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Vinod Gupta School of Management, Indian Institute of
Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India.
©  Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
300 R. DEBNATH ET AL.
that maintaining relationships with customers is a function of the marketing man-

ager in order to enhance the competitive advantage of the company (Chakravorti,
2009).
Parvatiyar and Sheth (2001) defined CRM as “a comprehensive strategy and pro-
cess of acquiring, retaining, and partnering with selective customers to create supe-
rior value for the company and the customer. It involves the integration of market-
ing, sales, customer service, and the supply-chain functions of the organization to
achieve greater efficiencies and effectiveness in delivering customer value.” Regard-
less of the size of an organization, businesses are motivated to adopt CRM to cre-
ate and manage relationships with their customers more effectively (Ngai, 2005).
In 2011, Nitzan and Libai stated that organizations should be interested in CRM
because of its possible implications for better understanding and prediction of cus-
tomer retention. Over the past two decades, practitioners and scholars have paid
considerable attention to customer retention and its antecedents and consequences,
primarily because of the impact of retention on customer lifetime value and conse-
quently on the firm’s bottom line (Nitzan & Libai, 2011). Customer retention repre-
sents a significant part of the research on value creation (Payne & Frow, 2005).
Recently, CRM has become an attractive area for research for academicians
because of its relative novelty and exploding growth. Because of CRM’s develop-
ing innovation capability and competitive advantage, it attracts not only industry
professionals, but also motivates academicians as a scope for research. Academic
research generally stresses CRM as a fundamental business process having a signif-
icant impact on organizational impact (Landry, Arnold, & Arndt, 2005).
Benefits of CRM
According to Mohammadhossein and Zakaria (2012), managers must have at least

basic understanding and knowledge of CRM benefits. A list of CRM benefits has
been identified from a wide range of literature which is being reviewed for this arti-
cler (see Appendix A). The following keywords were taken into consideration for
sorting out different CRM benefits from the reviewed papers: customer relation-
ship management, sales, marketing, customer retention, customer loyalty, informa-
tion systems, and information technology. These benefits are also taken into account
while suggesting directions for future research later in this article.
Mohammadhossein and Zakaria (2012) identified seven core benefits of CRM:
enhanced ability to target profitable customers; integrated assistance across chan-
nels; enhanced sales force efficiency and effectiveness; improved pricing; customized
products and services; improved customer service efficiency and effectiveness; and
individualized marketing message.
Objective
The main objective of the study is to find out the scope and direction for future
research in CRM from the papers which were published between the years 2000 to
JOURNAL OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING 301
Table . Ranking of different marketing journals.

h-index (–) g-index (–) hg-index (–) Citations (–)
S. No. Journal Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank
 Journal of     .  , 

Marketing
 Journal of     .  , 
Consumer
Research
 Journal of     .  , 
Marketing
Research
 Marketing     .  , 
Science
 Journal of     .  , 
Advertising
Research
 Journal of     .   
Relationship
Marketing
2014. The years from 2000 to 2014 are selected to identify the work which has been
done at the beginning of the twenty-first century (new millennium). This article will
be helpful for those academic researchers who are interested in researching CRM in
the future and hence contribute to future research discussed later in this article.
Moussa and Touzani (2010) ranked different marketing journals using a Hirsch-
type index. The ranking of six top-tier marketing journals is shown in Table 1. Jour-
nal of Relationship Marketing publishes the maximum number of articles which are
directly or indirectly related to CRM. It is recognized that five other publications
also contain a great deal of material on CRM.
The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a portal that includes the journals and
country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Sco-
pus database. The SCImago Journal & Country Rank’s listing of 2014 journals is
shown in Table 2), based on journal’s impact, influence, and prestige in the three
previous years.
Research method
Based on this information, articles related to CRM in six top-tier marketing jour-
nals were reviewed for this article. Marketing, business and management, IT, and IS
are some common academic disciplines for CRM research (Ngai, 2005). Online full
Table . Journal ranking as per SCImago journal & country rank.

S. No. Journals SCImago Journal & Country Rank (Year )
 Journal of Marketing 
 Journal of Marketing Research 
 Marketing Science 
 Journal of Consumer Research 
 Journal of Advertising Research 
 Journal of Relationship Marketing 
Table . Number of CRM articles published in six top-tier journals (–).

S. No. Journal Number of Articles Percentage (%)
 Journal of Relationship Marketing  .

 Journal of Marketing  .
 Marketing Science  .
 Journal of Marketing Research  .
 Journal of Advertising Research  .
 Journal of Consumer Research  .
Total  .
text databases which were searched to provide a comprehensive bibliography of the

academic literature on CRM are:
• EBSCO Databases;
• Emerald Journals;
• ABI/INFORM database;
• JSTOR;
• Sage;
• SpringerLink;
• Taylor & Francis;
• Google Scholar.
The literature search was based on the descriptor, “customer relationship manage-
ment,” which produced 371 articles from six top-tier journals: Journal of Relationship
Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research,
Journal of Advertising Research, and Journal of Consumer Research. Each and every
article was reviewed to sort out and eliminate those that were not actually related
to CRM. The selection criteria were as follows: those articles were selected that
had been published in the area of marketing, business management and informa-
tion technology, as these areas are the most appropriate for CRM research and our
main area of focus. Keywords which were used for sorting out the articles are cus-
tomer/consumer, customer relationship, and customer relationship management.
Journals which are related to finance, financial tools, and the banking sector were
excluded from the study. According to Xu et al. (2002), CRM involves three major
functional areas which contain marketing, sales, and service and support and does
not include finance or related matter. Our search thus focused on 196 CRM articles
from the 371 articles previously searched.
Content analysis methods
Sample
The manual search for CRM-related articles was conducted from 2000 to 2014.
Table 3 indicates the number of articles found in each journal. Journal of Relationship
Marketing, with 206 articles, has published the most articles related to CRM, which
covers 55.5% of the total number of articles which have been published. Journal of
Figure . Year-wise distribution of CRM articles
Consumer Research has published only three articles, which is the least among the
six journals, contributing only 0.8% of the total published articles.
Figure 1 shows that the maximum number of CRM articles were published in the
year 2008 (i.e., 41 articles), followed by 35 articles in both 2011 and 2012. In 2001,
two articles were published, followed by three articles in 2001, which is the lowest
number of articles published in a year from 2000 to 2014.
Classification method
According to Xu et al. (2002), CRM involves three major functional areas: market-
ing; sales; and services and support. According to Ngai (2005), the three major func-
tional areas can be considered into a life cycle of customer relationship that moves
from marketing to sales to service and support. Here, information technology plays
a vital factor in supporting and maintaining all three major functional areas and the
CRM process as a whole.
As per Ngai (2005), all of the 371 articles have been classified into five types as per
subject heading/keywords where CRM is being considered: CRM; marketing; sales;
service and support; IT and IS. Details of the five classifications are discussed in the
following.
Marketing: Marketing is the function most often associated with CRM (Ngai, 2005).
According to Ling and Yen (2001), CRM developed from direct sales to mass
marketing, target marketing and, finally, customer relationship marketing.
Services and Support: High-quality customer service and support is the key to
improving customer retention rates and maintaining a good relationship with
customers (Ngai, 2005). Nowadays, in volatile markets, organizations must fulfill
the need of each and every customer.
CRM: This is the fundamental framework which consists of principles, concepts,
and managerial aspects.
IT and IS: IT and IS play a key role in the development of CRM (Ling and Yen, 2001).
IT plays a vital role in storing and managing vast data available in the market for
better understanding of customers. It can also be used to automate some CRM-
processes.
Sales: The sales function in direct interaction with customers makes up CRM (Ngai,
2005). It is important to develop sales strategies at the customer level to build and
Table . Contribution of subjects.

S. No. Subjects Number of articles (–)
 Marketing 
 Service & Support 
 CRM 
 IT & IS 
 Sales 
Total 
maintain relationships with customers to achieve revenue goals (Ingram et al.,

2002).
As shown in Table 4, 93 articles out of 196 have been published in the marketing
area, which is the maximum among all five areas. It has the contribution of 47.4% of
the total. The lowest numbers of articles have been published in the sales area; i.e.,
only 11 articles out of 196, contributing 5.6% of the total.
According to Ngai (2005), the five broad categories are further sub-divided based
on subject area (see Table 5). They are:
Table . Distribution of CRM articles by subject area.

Percentage of
sub-categories within Overall percentage of
S. No. Subject headings/keywords Number of articles the broad area (%) sub-categories (%)
1 Marketing
(i) Customer Loyalty  . .
(ii) Customer Retention  . .
(iii) Customer Value  . .
(iv) Pricing and Profitability  . .
(v) Customer Orientation  . .
(vi) Customer Participation  . .
(vii) Channel Management  . .
(viii) Customer Referral  . .
(ix) Customer Prioritization  . .
Total   .
2 Service & Support
(i) Customer Satisfaction  . .
(ii) Field Service  . .
(iii) Confinement and Compensation  . .
(iv) Self Service  . .
(v) Call Center  . .
Total   .
3 Customer Relationship Management
(i) Theory, Principle, and Model  . .
(ii) Management, Planning, and  . .
Strategy
(iii) Performance Management  . .
Total   .
4 Information Technology
(i) Online  . .
(ii) e-CRM  . .
(iii) Technology Management  . .
Total   .
5 Sales
(i) Cross-Selling/Buying  . .
(ii) Sales Management  . .
Total   .
Grand Total 
Table . Status of the established theories.

S. No. Established theories Frequency
 Social Exchange Theory. 

 Attribution Theory, Economic Theory, Equity Theory, and Organizational Learning Theory.  each
 Game Theory, Grounded Theory, Prospect Theory, Relationship Marketing Theory, and  each
Social Cognitive Theory.
 Attachment Theory, Agency/Stewardship Theory, Social Identity Theory, Transaction Cost  each
Theory, and Theory of Reasoned Action.
 Attitude Theory, Conservation of Resource Theory, Dissonance Theory, Heider’s Balance  each
Theory, Innovation Diffusion Theory, Institutional Theory, Means–End Theory, Norm
Theory, Expectancy Theory, RBV Theory, Self-Determination Theory, Self-Perception
Theory, Theory of Planned Behavior, Theory of Reciprocity, Triangular Theory of Love, and
Trust Theory.
 Ambidexterity Theory, Behavioral Decision Theory, Behavioral Theory, Betrayal Trauma  each
Theory, Central Place Theory, Classical Theory, Cognitive Flexibility Theory, Competitive
Advantage Theory, Configuration Theory, Contingency Theory, Control Theory,
Cross-Cultural Organizational Theory, Deterrence Theory, Emotional Contagion Theory,
Equity-Based Brand Loyalty Theory, Exit–Voice–Loyalty Theory,
Expectation-Disconfirmation Theory, Flow Theory, Framing Theory, Freud’s Theory,
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory, Goal-Setting Theory, Gollwitzer and Bayer’s
() Theory, Grounded Theory, Heavy-Half Theory, Item-Response Theory, Job
Demands-Resources Theory, Justice Theory, Keller’s Theory, Marketing Controlling
Theory, Middle-Range Theory, Motivated Reasoning Theory, Neoclassical Economic
Theory, Network Theory, Organizational Behavior Theory, Organizational Theory, Personal
Construct Theory, Persuasion Knowledge Theory, Positive Reinforcement Theory,
Psychological Theory, Regulatory Depletion Theory, Regulatory Focus Theory, Relational
Exchange Theory, Schema Theory, Script Theory, Self-Affirmation Theory, Self-Generated
Validity Theory, Signalling Theory, Social Capital Theory, Social Closure Theory, Social
Interdependence Theory, Social Judgment Theory, Social Need Theory, Social Utility
Theory, Sociological Theory, The Jug and Mug Theory of Education, Theory of Creative
Destruction, Theory of Crime, Theory of Motivated Reasoning, Trait Activation Theory,
Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Value Chain Theory, and Voice-of-the-Customer Theory.
Marketing: Customer Retention; Customer Value; Pricing and Profitability; Cus-

tomer Loyalty; Customer Orientation; Customer Participation; Channel Manage-
ment; Customer Referral and Customer Prioritization.
Services and Support: Customer Satisfaction; Field Service; Self Service and Call
Center.
Customer Relationship Management: Theory, Principle, and Model; Management,
Planning, and Strategy; and Performance Management.
Information Technology & Information Systems: Online; e-CRM and Technology
Management.
Sales: Cross-Selling/Buying and Sales Management.
Status of established theories
Table 6 contains established theories which have been used in 196 published arti-
cles in the CRM area. There are 96 types of theories which have been used in these
published articles. The details of every theory are noted in Appendix B.
Directions for future research

As discussed earlier in this article, Ngai (2005), in his article, classified CRM into
five types based on subject heading/keywords. The five types of classifications are:
CRM, Marketing, Sales, Service and Support, and IT and IS. Further, these five types
were divided into sub-categories and direction for future research was discussed.
Along with the direction for future research limitations and gaps in the past research,
articles are also discussed from the reviewed research articles.
1. Marketing
(a) Customer prioritization

In order to increase the profits, a firm should focus on its marketing efforts for the
most important customers, known as customer prioritization. Wetzel et al. (2014),
in their research, considered mediators beyond gratitude and entitlement for cus-
tomer prioritization with the goal of developing an integrated framework which
may include traditional bright-side mediators such as trust and commitment. The
researchers suggested that three prioritization tactics—i.e., concrete, symbolic, and
hybrid—be examined to find out whether each specific tactic combination yields
incremental benefits under different conditions.
(b) Customer orientation

In general, a firm’s business strategy is to frame its sales and service employees by
considering the needs and satisfaction of the customer, which is referred to as cus-
tomer orientation. Lukas et al. (2013) considered only one marketing domain for
customer orientation; i.e., decisions about a product. Researcher can extend into
the service context to find the most important factor for satisfying customers and
gaining their loyalty. Nitzan and Libai (2011) concentrated their study of the cel-
lular phone market and suggested considering the extent to which customers fol-
low not only their neighbors’ defection decisions, but also their neighbors’ choice
by choosing the same new source, keeping in mind the service a firm is providing
to its customer. Another study was done on service employee customer orientation
by Hennig-Thurau and Thurau (2003); they suggested that research could be con-
ducted to increase the understanding of the customer orientation of service employ-
ees and to investigate the relationships between the customer-orientation dimen-
sions and the success variables of service and relationship marketing.
(c) Customer referral

Almost all customers have a common habit of enquiring about a particular product
before they actually purchase the product, and their decision depends on the feed-
back they get from various sources like friends, relatives, customer reviews from the
Internet, etc. Hence, the feedback received from different sources plays a vital role in
customer purchase decisions, which makes customer referral one of the most impor-
tant powerful and selling tools. A satisfied customer will be loyal and will give posi-
tive feedback towards a particular product. Garnefeld, Eggert, Helm, and Tax (2013)
considered customer tenure, reward size, and attitudinal orientation in their study.
Their research can be extended by considering whether the loyalty effect varies by
level of customer satisfaction. Research can also be conducted by studying less satis-
fied customers to determine if they are more strongly influenced by self-perception
effects of customer referral program participation that highly satisfies customers.
Studies can also examine the conditions for establishing an adequate reward size,
hence developing optimal reward schemes for firms. Further, Schmitt, Skiera, and
Bulte (2011) suggested that it would be thought-provoking to know the rate at which
the quality of referrals decreases and the point where it tends to no longer explain
the cost of acquisition. It can also be worthwhile to examine whether the stimulus
of the referrer changes depending on the reward, and whether the size of the reward
affects the quality of the referred customer. According to Kushwaha and Shankar
(2013), a study can be conducted in multichannel context with respect to the effec-
tiveness of price promotions across different channels for better understanding of
customer value with increase in the sales of smart phones and tablets.
(d) Customer loyalty

The attitudinal and behavioral tendency towards one brand over all others due to
services provided, performance, positive referral, etc., is called customer loyalty.
Hussein et al. (2014) suggested that researchers can study the effects of the operators
in attempts to attract subscribers, such as lower prices or more attractive subscrip-
tion offers, in the mobile market. Such studies can also be done in a different per-
spective by dividing customers into groups by considering their loyalty status. This
might focus on the different types of loyalty (i.e., attitudinal versus behavioral loy-
alty) by examining the different relationship strategies one can have within groups
to retain loyal customers and to attract the less loyal. Prasad and Mishra (2014) sug-
gested analyzing why and how customers in different geographic locations remain
loyal to their service providers in the telecom sector and hence verifying whether
loyalty-neutral is an indication of inadequate CRM efforts or customer indifference.
As per Bahri-Ammari (2014), variables like gender, marital status, education, age,
and job level of the customer will help in explaining customer behavior intentions
in telecommunication.
Kim et al. (2013) suggest comparing pricing and promotion, product quality and
assortment, and service quality across different demographic segments for better
understanding of customer loyalty. Lindsey-Mullikin and Munger (2011) suggest
that investigation can be done by using both qualitative and empirical research,
which could be helpful in describing the phenomenon of companion shoppers in
more depth. Bügel et al.(2010) suggest examining sectors other than the bank-
ing industry, health insurance, supermarkets, mobile telecom providers, and the
automotive industry, in order to obtain more generalized results and to examine
whether the investment model factors differ between profitable and non-profitable
customers.
Rothenberger et al. (2008) explore the role of five drivers of loyalty: customer
usage level, service pricing, service quality, membership in the firm’s loyalty pro-
gram, and satisfaction with complaint handling. Further research could exam-
ine the impact of these five loyalty drivers on complainers and non-complainers,
which would enable organizations to understand the contexts and characteristics of
complaining behaviors as well as to gauge the effectiveness of their complaint
management system. This could focus on the links among complaint management,
service design, and service delivery.
Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder, Canniére, and Van Oppen (2003) distinguished

between consumer inputs and outputs as underlying attributes which potentially
affect participation in a loyalty program. Further study could explore whether the
attributes which are being investigated have an impact on usage level and customer
loyalty, and whether industry conditions impact the results; research could be done
on the effects of other soft benefits, such as the organization of special events, cus-
tomer privileges, and so on.
(e) Customer participation

Customer participation is the involvement of an individual or group of individuals
in the decision-making process. Woisetschläger et al. (2008) indicated that identifi-
cation and satisfaction with community and degree of influence explain most of the
variance in consumer participation; researchers can consider testing personal char-
acteristics such as age, income, and gender on the consumer participation–outcome
linkage.
(f) Customer retention

Customer retention is the customer relationship maintained by a firm which attracts
customers again and again, hence retaining the customer for a particular product.
Sun and Li (2011) suggested a study in operation management of service alloca-
tion decisions, such as queuing, waiting time, abandonment, and retrials, to see how
these variables affect customer retention. According to Wetsch (2005), a study can
be done on the effect of a customer’s attitude towards a firm after not delivering the
service which is being promised at the time of sales. Keith et al. (2004) suggest iden-
tifying the conditions under which customer feelings of dependence have a strong
effect on future intentions.
2. Customer relationship management

(a) Theory, principle, and model
Johnson and Ross (2014) focused on grounded theory development where the the-
oretical relationships were not statistically tested, which gives a scope for future
research, and investigated additional differences between the outcomes result-
ing from social and commercial relationships. Agariya and Singh (2013), in their
research, developed a CRM scale regarding the Indian telecom sector, where sample
sizes were small. Hence, large and more diversified samples can be considered for
future research work.
Chakravorti (2009) argues that inter-firm CRM processes can lead to compet-
itive advantage through the generation and strengthening of inter-organizational
learning and inter-firm relationships, which gives the opportunity for developing
measures for the framework constructs and for empirically validating the model
relationships through surveys, interviews, and focus groups with companies and
members involved in joint CRM efforts in the value chain.
(b) Performance management

According to Mumuni and O’Reilly (2014), future studies could consider examin-
ing whether the impact of CRM activities on individual performance dimensions
and deconstructed firm performance measures varies as a function of organizational
CRM maturity. Yadav and Singh (2014) suggested a study considering greater sam-
ple size for the hotel industry using different samples from other industries, loca-
tions, and also service industries like telecommunication, travel, etc., with respect
to factors like innovativeness, service quality, brand, pricing, communication, etc.,
which would give variation, if any, with CRM and its effect on organizational perfor-
mance. Punjaisri et al. (2008) suggested that survey-based studies could offer empir-
ical evidence of the link between internal branding and employees’ brand attitudes,
and between internal branding and employees’ behaviors in delivering the brand
promise.
(c) Management, planning, and strategy

Fernandes and Proença (2013) found that cognition-based motivations explain
functional relationship outcomes and that emotion-based motivations explain
higher forms of dedication to the provider, such as altruism, switching intentions,
and acquiescence. Further research using a longitudinal design could better address
relationship dynamics.
3. Information technology and information systems
(a) Technology management

Šerić, Gil-Saura, and Mollá-Descals (2013) found a positive influence of informa-
tion and communication technology (ICT) on integrated marketing communica-
tions (IMC) implementation, as well as a positive impact of IMC on loyalty in high-
quality hotels of Croatia for which the small hotel census and the small sample size
were considered. Future studies can concentrate on areas that have a bigger hotel
census and larger sample size with respect to factors like trust and commitment
which may have generalizable results. Eid and Zaidi (2010) consider three research
objectives (i.e., information phase, objective phase, and trust phase) in airline indus-
tries in their study, which can be replicated in other types of businesses to generate
an in-depth knowledge to inform both theoretical and practical applications. Walter
and Ritter (2004) provide a discussion of the interplay between IT and relationship
variables; i.e., relationship functions, trust, and relationship value; further study can
address ways to overcome the initial negative effect, such as the role of relationship
management tasks in this process.
(b) Online
Billiot and Rodriguez (2012) extend cognitive flexibility theory using a structural
equation model to determine whether a hypermedia and hypertext website shapes
cognition, attitude, and behavior. According to the authors, future study can tease
out the causal effects of cognitive flexibility theory on attitudes and behavior to
determine underlying factors that may influence consumers’ transferability of new

brand knowledge to others.
(c) e-CRM
Casaló et al. (2010) analyzed the usability of two key concepts in relationship mar-
keting; i.e., trust and satisfaction. They suggested investigation of the influence of
other key determinants of trust on the different trusting beliefs. Merrilees (2002)
found that interactivity is a potentially important driver of enhanced online rela-
tionships and developed a scale of the interactivity construct, both in terms of item
generation and confirmatory factor testing; further study could test actual markets
for goods, particularly inclusive of consumers with longer-duration relationships.
Al-Refaie et al. (2012) suggested a study of the effect of e-CRM in different service
sectors, such as banks, telecom, etc., and locations.
4. Service and support

(a) Customer satisfaction
Belanche et al. (2013) found that happiness plays a role in satisfaction, trust, and
affective commitment, which was found by considering Spanish-speaking English
consumers. As suggested by the researchers, studies can consider a greater diver-
sity of nationalities and compare possible differences among people from different
cultures by considering other moods or emotional states which may also affect con-
sumer behavior.
According to Brady et al. (2012), service sweethearting is a previously unexplored
area which has a unique array of motivations. Sweethearting occurs when frontline
employees give unauthorized free and discounted goods and services to customers.
5. Sales
(a) Sales management

Sales management includes activities like formulation of sales strategies with respect
to planning and management policies; implementing sales strategies through select-
ing, training, and motivating; finally, sales force management through analysis,
monitoring, and evaluating. Baker (2014) suggests further investigation of con-
textual factors of technology utilization, research into additional factors related to
social normative aspects of technology utilization, research into additional cross-
culturally relevant antecedents and moderators of technology utilization in multi-
national organizational environments with respect to sales force. Oakley and Bush
(2012) argue that future studies can find how customer entertainment contributes
to sales efficacy, the strength of the relationship, and the loyalty of the customer.
Tuli et al. (2010) provided empirical justification for supplier efforts to form mul-
tiple ties with customers; this research can be conducted by considering the cost
of forming and maintaining multiple types of ties and understanding their effects
on suppliers and customers. It would be of significant interest to identify how these
learning, financial, and opportunity costs vary across industries. It would also be
useful to study how the proportion of costs assumed by suppliers and customers,
respectively, vary across industries (Tuli et al., 2010).
Limitations and conclusion

In this study, only six journals are focused on: Journal of Relationship Marketing,
Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of
Advertising Research, and Journal of Consumer Research. Articles belonging to five
specific areas were selected, including marketing, service & support, customer rela-
tionship management (CRM), information technology and information systems
(IT&IS), and sales. Here, conference papers, masters and doctoral dissertations,
textbooks, and unpublished working papers were excluded.
CRM has attracted the attention of many practitioners and academicians. Aca-
demic research on CRM will increase significantly in the near future, which can
be predicted based on past publication rates and its increasing interest among
researchers (Ngai, 2005). The main objective of this article was to find directions
for future research in customer relationship management. From the review of 196
papers from six top-tier journals published in between the years 2000 and 2014, we
can say that research interest in CRM has grown in the past few decades.
Researchers have shown maximum interest in marketing in the past, which is
47.4% of the five subjects; i.e., marketing, service and support, customer relationship
management, information technology, and sales. Out of 196 reviewed papers, 93
papers were from the marketing area. As discussed earlier in the article, marketing
is categorized into customer retention, customer value, pricing and probability, cus-
tomer loyalty, customer orientation, customer participation, channel management,
customer referral, and customer prioritization. Within the marketing area, out of 93
papers, 20 and 16 papers (Table 4) has been published in the categories of customer
loyalty and customer retention, respectively. Among the theories focused on, max-
imum focus has been shown on Social Exchange Theory by researchers studying
CRM.
As mentioned earlier, there has been significant focus on customer loyalty and
retention, though all of the categories are interrelated with each other. Thus,
researchers may prefer to conduct research in the marketing area; specifically, in
customer loyalty and retention.
ORCID
Rajarshi Debnath http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3412-068X
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Appendix A
Benefits of CRM
S. No. Dimensions Reference
 (i) Collaborative relationships between suppliers and buyers create mutual (Ho & Ganesan, )
value and opportunities for interorganizational learning; (ii) Sharing
specialized knowledge enables supplier partners to learn from each
other, resulting in superior solutions for customers.
 Customer prioritization enhances customer loyalty, retention, and (Wetzel, Hammerschmidt, &
positive word of mouth. Zablah, )
 Online customer reviews increase the sales of models of weak brands and (Ho-Dac, Carson, & Moore,
help weak brands become strong. )
 According to customer stewardship control (CSC), a frontline employee’s (Schepers, Falk, Ruyter, Jong,
felt ownership of and ethical bond for customers’ overall welfare. & Hammerschmidt, )
 Customer referral programs are an effective means of customer (Garnefeld et al., )
acquisition and increase customer loyalty.
 If brand managers win the hearts and minds of a customer, then they have (Stahl et al., )
an easier time in retaining and acquiring customers.
 Customer participation (CP) in the service production and delivery (Yim, Chan, & Lam, )
process is believed to help customers in achieving higher service quality
and more service control and helps the firms through increased
customer satisfaction and productivity gains.
 Ambidextrous behavior refers to customer service representatives’ (Jasmand, Blazevic, & Ruyter,
engagement in customer service provision and cross/up selling )
during service encounters.
 Sales person customer orientation, commitment to understanding and (Homburg, Müller, &
meeting a customer’s needs and interests and, finally, guaranteeing Klarmann, )
long-term customer satisfaction.
 Referral program, a popular way to acquire customers’ satisfaction (Schmitt, Skiera, et al., )
and their loyalty.
 CRM offers firms strategic benefits such as higher customer response to (Krasnikov et al., )
cross-selling efforts and enhanced positive word-of-mouth publicity.
 (i) CRM is a strategic approach which helps in improving shareholder (Payne & Frow, )
value through the improvement of relationships with key customers
and customer segments; (ii) CRM ties the potential of relationship
marketing strategies and IT to build profitable, long-term relationships
with customers and other key stakeholders; (iii) CRM provides greater
opportunities to use data and information to understand customers and
create value with them.
 (i) CRM focuses on establishing, maintaining, and enhancing long-term (Jayachandran, Sharma,
associations with customers; (ii) many firms have invested in CRM Kaufman, & Raman, )
technologies, hoping to discriminate between profitable and
unprofitable customers, provide personalized service, and obtain greater
customer retention; (iii) CRM technologies use and show that they
interrelate with relational information processes to influence customer
relationship performance.
 (i) CRM tracks customer behavior to gain perception of customer tastes and (Mithas, Krishnan, & Fornell,
evolving needs, so that firms can design and develop better customized )
products and services; (ii) CRM enables firms to analyze purchase
behavior across transactions through different channels and customer
touchpoints; (iii) CRM applications are in a better position to control their
stock of accumulated knowledge and experience into customer support
processes.
 CRM data are used to reduce the negative effects of adverse selection and (Cao & Gruca, )
costly screening.
 (i) By CRM multichannels, retailers can influence enterprise-level data to (Dagger & Danaher, )
understand and predict their customers’ channel choices over time; (ii)
CRM can be used to develop strategies for targeting and communicating
with customers in a multichannel environment.
(Continued on next page)
(Continued).
S. No. Dimensions Reference
 (i) A key idea in CRM is that customers must be treated as economic assets; (Lewis, )
(ii) CRM helps firms to identify their most profitable customers and then
customize marketing on the basis of customer asset value.
 Firms invest in CRM in practice to obtain an information advantage over (Shin & Sudhir, )
competitors about existing customers.
Appendix B
Overview of the theories used in CRM articles
S. No. Theory Details of theory
 Economic Theory The theory characteristically proceeds by building a model, a

simplified version of the real world. It is a series of functional
relations between the elements of which an economy is
composed. Major economic elements are wages, capital,
investment, consumption, and certain relationships between
them are postulated. (Representative Articles (R.A.): Boulding,
Staelin, Ehret, & Johnston, ; Fornell, Rust, & Dekimpe, ;
Thomas, Blattberg, & Fox, ; Rindfleisch & Moorman, ;
Lim & Ho, ).
 Game Theory It is the formal study of conflict and cooperation. The concept
applies whenever the actions of several agents are
interdependent. These agents may be individuals, groups,
firms, or any combination of these. (R.A.: Ho & Ganesan, ;
Shin & Sudhir, ; Shin, ; Kuksov & Xie, ).
 Prospect Theory It is a theory of decision making under condition of risk. Decisions
are based on judgements. They are made especially
challenging under conditions of uncertainty, where it is
difficult to foresee the consequences or outcomes of events
with clarity. (R.A.: Ho-Dac et al., ; Lambrecht & Tucker, ;
Thomas et al., ; Iyengar, Jedidi, Essegaier, & Danaher, ).
 Relationship Marketing It is the identification of key drivers that influence important
Theory outcomes for the firm and a better understanding of the causal
relations between these drivers and outcomes. (R.A.:
Jayachandran et al., ; Verhoef, ; Tuli et al., ;
Venkatesan, Kumar, & Bohling, ).
 Grounded Theory It is a general methodology of analysis linked with data collection
that uses a systematically applied set of methods to generate
an inductive theory about a substantive area. (R.A.: Wang,
Beatty & Liu, ; Homburg, Wilczek, & Hahn, ; Bendapudi
& Leone, ; Johnson & Ross, ).
 Organizational Learning The idea is accredited to the creation of the action learning
Theory process (Revans, ), which uses small groups, rigorous
collection of statistical data, and the tapping of the group’s
positive emotional energies (Garratt, ). (R.A.: Krasnikov
et al., ; Jayachandran et al., ; McIntyre, ; Hsu et al.,
).
 Attribution Theory It attempts to describe and explain the mental and
communicative processes involved in everyday explanations,
most typically explanations of individual and social events.
(R.A.: Yim, Tse, & Chan, ; Lewis, ; Tsiros, Mittal, & Ross,
; Haenlein & Kaplan, ; Woisetschläger et al., ).
(Continued).
 Social Exchange Theory The fundamental principle is that humans in social situations
choose behaviors that maximize their likelihood of meeting
self-interests in those situations. (R.A.: Wetzel et al., ;
Wetzel et al., ; Zainol, Yasin, Omar, & Hashim, ;
Fernandes & Proença, ; Taylora et al., ; Moeller et al.,
; ; Keith et al., ).
 Attachment Theory It is a psychological, evolutionary, and ethological theory
concerning relationships between humans. The most
important tenet of the theory is that a young child needs to
develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for
social and emotional development to occur normally. (R.A.:
Mende, Bolton & Bitner, ; Yim et al., ; Taylora et al.,
).
 Social Cognitive Theory It explains psychosocial functioning in terms of triadic reciprocal
causation (Bandura, ). In this causal model, behavior,
cognitive and other personal factors, and environmental
events all operate as interacting determinants that influence
each other bidirectionally. (R.A.: Schepers et al., ; Yim et al.,
; Baker, ).
 Self-Perception Theory Individuals come to know their own attitudes, emotions, and
internal states by inferring them from observations of their
own behavior and circumstances in which they occur. (R.A.:
Garnefeld et al., ; Wang et al., ).
 Equity Theory It (Adams, , ) draws from exchange, dissonance, and
social comparison theories in making predictions about how
individuals manage their relationships with others. (R.A.: Brady
et al., ; Verhoef, ; Woisetschläger et al., ;
Rothenberger et al., ; Wulf et al., ).
 Institutional Theory It is traditionally concerned with how various groups and
organizations better secure their positions and legitimacy by
conforming to the rules and norms of the institutional
environment (Scott, ). (R.A.: Wang et al., ; Payne &
Frow, ).
 Cognitive Dissonance Theory This is the feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from
holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time.
(R.A.: Lewis, ; Thomas et al., ).
 Self-Determination Theory It is an approach to human motivation and personality that uses
traditional empirical methods while employing an organismic
metatheory that highlights the importance of humans’ evolved
inner resources for personality development and behavioral
self-regulation (Ryan, Kuhl, & Deci, ). (R.A.: Schepers et al.,
; Mende et al., ).
 Norm Theory It (Kahneman & Miller, ) proposes that events evoke their
own norms and that counterfactual alternatives to surprising
occurrences are automatically accessible. (R.A.: Lemon, White,
& Winer, ; Netzer, Lattin, & Srinivasan, ).
 Expectancy Theory It says that individuals have different sets of goals and can be
motivated if they have certain expectations. (R.A.: Ho &
Ganesan, ; Taylora et al., ).
 Signaling Theory It provides an opportunity to integrate an interactive theory of
symbolic communication and social benefit with materialist
theories of individual strategic action and adaptation. (R.A.:
Ho-Dac et al., ; Zainol et al., ).
 Regulatory Focus Theory It (Higgins, ) has proposed two distinct means of
self-regulation, termed promotion focus and prevention focus,
which people use to achieve a desired end-state. (R.A.:
Kushwaha & Shankar, ).
(Continued).
 Stewardship/Agency Theory It argues that shareholder interests are maximized by shared

incumbency of these roles. (R.A.: Schepers et. al., ; Mumuni
& O’Reilly, ; Taylora et al., ).
 Marketing Controlling Theory It is defined as a set of activities designed to increase the
probability that specified plans are implemented properly and
desired outcomes are achieved (Jaworski, ). (R.A.: Schepers
et al., ).
 Goal-Setting Theory The major finding is that individuals who are provided with
specific, difficult but attainable goals perform better than
those given easy, nonspecific, or no goals at all (Latham, ).
(R.A.: Schepers et al., ).
 Positive Reinforcement Reinforcement refers to anything that follows behavior and
Theory increases the likelihood of that behavior (Ashford, Lecroy, &
Lortie, ). The purpose of a positive reinforcement is the
hope that the behavior will happen again. (R.A.: Garnefeld
et al., ).
 Keller’s Theory It (ARCS Model) presumes that people are motivated to learn if
there is value in the knowledge presented (i.e., it fulfills
personal needs) and if there is an optimistic expectation for
success. (R.A.: Stahl et al., ).
 Job Demands-Resources The model is a theoretical framework that tries to integrate two
Theory fairly independent research traditions: the stress research
tradition and the motivation research tradition. (R.A.: Zablah,
Franke, Brown, & Bartholomew, ).
 Uncertainty Reduction It proposes that communication behavior in situations is
Theory primarily understandable through interlocutors’ goals of
predicting and explaining the actions of partners and self.
(R.A.: Homburg, Klarmann, & Staritz, ).
 Flow Theory As proposed by Csikszentmihalyi in , flow considered as a
psychological state describing the optimal feeling of people
who are cognitively efficient, motivated, and happy. (R.A.: Yim
et al., ).
 Psychoanalytic/Personality According to Freud, the unconscious is the source of our
Theory motivations, whether they be simple desires for food or sex,
neurotic compulsions, or the motives of an artist or scientist.
And yet, we are often driven to deny or resist becoming
conscious of these motives, and they are often available to us
only in disguised form. (R.A.: Brady et al., ).
 Social Need Theory It can be defined as the study of scientific ways of thinking about
social life. (R.A.: Brady et al., ).
 Theory of Crime A normative definition views crime as deviant behavior that
violates prevailing norms; specifically, cultural standards
prescribing how humans ought to behave. (R.A.: Brady et al.,
).
 Regulatory Depletion Theory This model suggests that acts of self-regulation consume a
resource that is limited, leaving people in a state of ego
depletion and making them less able to exert self-control on a
subsequent task. (R.A.: Chan & Wan, ).
 Conservation of Resource It’s (Hobfoll, ) a resource-oriented psychosocial theory of
Theory adaptation in a potentially useful theoretical basis for
understanding the capacity to use research evidence in health
systems. (R.A.: Chan & Wan, ; Hsu et al., ).
 Ambidexterity Theory Organizational ambidexterity as a term was firstly used by
Duncan (), who proposed that dual structures should be
formed within an organization so as to support the initiation
and the execution phases of an innovation. (R.A.: Jasmand
et al., ).
 Regulatory Mode Theory It defines “assessment” as an orientation to measure, interpret, or
evaluate the rate, amount, size, value, or importance of
something, to appraise critically for the purpose of
understanding or interpreting. (R.A.: Jasmand et al., ).
(Continued).
 Script Theory It is a psychological theory which posits that human behavior

largely falls into patterns called “scripts” because they function
analogously to the way a written script does, by providing a
program for action. (R.A.: Wang et al., ).
 Motivated Reasoning Theory It refers to the tendency of people to conform assessments of
information to some goal or end extrinsic to accuracy (Kunda,
; Balcetis & Dunning, ; Dunning, ; Ditto, Pizarro, &
Tannenbaum, ). (R.A.: Wang et al., ).
 Middle-Range Theory It is intermediate to general theories of social systems which are
too remote from particular classes of social behavior,
organization, and change to account for what is observed and
to those detailed orderly descriptions of particulars that are
not generalized at all. (R.A.: Wang et al., ).
 Emotional Contagion Theory If we perceive another person’s emotional expressions (for
example, seeing a happy person smile), we tend to suddenly
find ourselves also smiling and sharing this person’s happiness
without ever having intended to do so. This phenomenon of
catching each other’s emotions is called emotional contagion.
(R.A.: Wang et al., ).
 Deterrence Theory In everyday language, people commit crime if it pays and will not
commit crime if it does not pay. (R.A.: Wang et al., ).
 Control Theory Control systems are most often based on the principle of
feedback, whereby the signal to be controlled is compared to a
desired reference signal and the discrepancy used to compute
corrective control action. (R.A.: Wang et al., ).
 Implementation Intentions Implementation intentions are subordinate to goal intentions
and specify the when, where, and how of responses leading to
goal attainment. (R.A.: Valentini, Montaguti, & Neslin, ).
 Heider’s Balance Theory Heider () focused on a simple social network with three
actors (i.e., a triad) in which each pair of actors is connected by
either a positive or negative link. (R.A.: Schmitt et al., ;
Haenlein & Kaplan, ).
 Social Closure Theory It was originally formulated by Weber (, pp. –) as the
process of monopolization of resources by individuals and
groups using rules of exclusion designed to create legitimated
social inequalities (Lee, , p. ). These inequalities are
created by singling out certain physical or social attributes
such as gender, ethnicity, class, or education. (R.A.: Schmitt
et al., ).
 Behavioral Theory Theories and models explain behavior, as well as suggest how to
develop more effective ways to influence and change
behavior. (R.A.: Krasnikov et al., ).
 Social Interdependence The theory is the ways in which participants’ goals are structured,
Theory determine how they interact, and the interaction pattern
determines the outcomes of the situation (Deutsch, ,
). (R.A.: Mende et al., ).
 Configuration Theory It posits that for each set of strategic characteristics, there exists
an ideal set of organizational characteristics that yields
superior performance (e.g. Van de Ven & Drazin, ). (R.A.:
Fang, Palmatier, & Grewal, ).
 Resource-Based View Theory It comprises a rising and dominant area of the strategy literature
which addresses the question of an organization s identity and
it is principally concerned with the source and nature of
strategic capabilities. (R.A.: Fang et al., ; Chakravorti, ).
 Network Theory It offers a structured way of conceptualizing and measuring
external ties and their impact. (R.A.: Tuli et al., ).
 Triangular Theory of Love Sternberg (e.g., , ) conceptualized love in terms of three
basic components that form the vertices of a triangle: intimacy,
passion, and decision/commitment. (R.A.: Yim et al., ;
Taylora et al., ).
(Continued).
 Persuasion Knowledge The theory represents a form of domain-specific knowledge

Theory gained through experience. (R.A.: Villanueva et al., ).
 Social Judgment Theory It (Sherif, ; Sherif, Sherif, & Nebergall, ) is based upon the
idea that the effect of a persuasive message on a particular
issue depends on the way that the receiver evaluates the
position of the message. (R.A.: Palmatier, Scheer, & Steenkamp,
).
 Organizational Theory It refers to the social and behavioral theories that can be applied
to the understanding of formal and informal organizations.
(R.A.: Rindfleisch & Moorman, ).
 Neoclassical Economic According to the theory when one factor of production is held
Theory constant, and another is increased, the latter factor will yield
diminishing returns. (R.A.: Rindfleisch & Moorman, ).
 Voice-of-the-Customer It is both broadcast and narrowcast, giving a view of customers’
Theory behaviors, needs, and values never before achievable. (R.A.:
Liechty, Ramaswamy, & Cohen, ).
 Self-Generated Validity It’s the most popular explanation of the reactive effects of
Theory measurement, using two lines of argument. First, pre-existing
intentions may become more accessible in memory when the
researcher asks the question. Second, higher relative
accessibility and diagnosticity of intentions, compared with
other inputs for purchase decisions. (R.A.: Dholakia & Morwitz,
).
 Framing Theory In communication, framing defines how news media coverage
can shape mass opinion by using these specific frameworks to
help guide their reader to understanding. (R.A.: Ward &
Ostrom, ).
 Social Identity Theory It is a sub-theory of social cognition, social identity theory
developed with the purpose of understanding how individuals
make sense of themselves and other people in the social
environment. (R.A.: Ward & Ostrom, ; Woisetschläger et al.,
; Deshpandé & Farley, ).
 Betrayal Trauma Theory The ability to detect betrayal may need to be stifled for the
greater goal of survival. (R.A.: Ward & Ostrom, ).
 Self-Affirmation Theory Claude Steele () first proposed the theory of self-affirmation.
It asserts that the overall goal of the self-system is to protect an
image of its self-integrity, of its moral and adaptive adequacy.
(R.A.: Ward & Ostrom, ).
 Value Chain Theory It describes the activities within and around an organization, and
relates them to an analysis of the competitive strength of the
organization. (R.A.: Maxham, Netemeyer, & Lichtenstein, ).
 Trait Activation Theory It specifies the conditions in which cross-situationally consistent
and inconsistent candidate performances are likely to occur.
(R.A.: Maxham et al., ).
 Behavioral Decision Theory It shows that humans violate the principle of expected utility in
systematic ways. (R.A.: Anderson & Simester, ).
 Heavy-Half Theory It provides a snapshot of current service penetration rates and
usage volume distributions and helps to identify the active
users. (R.A.: Schultz & Bailey, ).
 Theory of Reciprocity According to this theory, reciprocity is a behavioral response to
perceived kindness and unkindness, where kindness comprises
both distributional fairness as well as fairness intentions. (R.A.:
Schultz & Bailey, ; Lin, ).
 Equity-Based Brand Loyalty Loyalty is a core dimension of brand equity. Aaker (, p. )
Theory defines brand loyalty as the attachment that a customer has to
a brand. (R.A.: Schultz & Bailey, ).
 Classical Theory It focuses on the growth of a nation’s wealth and promotes
policies that are responsible. (R.A.: Regó, Morgan, & Fornell,
).
 Sociological Theory This theory focuses on how and why particular facts about the
social world are related. (R.A.: Morgan & Rego, ).
 Psychological Theory This theories deal with human thoughts and behavior. (R.A.:
Morgan & Rego, ).
(Continued).
 Contingency theory It allows analyzing a situation and determining what variables

influence the decision with which one is concerned. (R.A.:
Mumuni & O’Reilly, ).
 Social Capital Theory Those tangible assets that count for most in the daily lives of
people: namely, goodwill, fellowship, sympathy, and social
intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a
social unit. (R.A.: Johnson & Ross Jr., ).
 Transaction Cost Theory It is the study of economic organization that regards the
transaction as the basic unit of analysis and holds that an
understanding of transaction cost economizing is central to
the study of organizations (Williamson, ). (R.A.: Zainol
et al., ; Bauer et al., ; Gao et al., ).
 Cognitive Flexibility Theory Its intent is to facilitate the advanced acquisition of knowledge
and to serve as the basis for expertise in complex and poorly
structured knowledge domains. (R.A.: Billiot & Rodriguez, ).
 Social Utility Theory It specifies level of satisfaction as a function of outcome to self
and other (Loewenstein et al., ). (R.A.: Lindsey-Mullikin &
Munger, ).
 Exit–Voice–Loyalty Theory It not only characterizes firms producing saleable outputs for
customers but also is applicable to organizations such as
voluntary associations, trade unions, or political parties that
provide services to their members without direct monetary
counterpart (Chesang, ). (R.A.: Haenlein & Kaplan, ).
 Expectation-Disconfirmation Individuals anticipate a specific level of service when they are
Theory about to engage in a purchase transaction (Serenko & Stach,
). (R.A.: Casaló et al., ).
 Attitude Theory A lasting, general evaluation of people, objects, advertisements,
or issues. (R.A.: Alexander, ; Fernandes & Proença, ).
 Trust Theory One conceptualizes trust as existing when one party has
confidence in an exchange partner’s reliability and integrity
(Morgan & Hunt, ). (R.A.: Lin, ; Hsu et al., ).
 Theory of Reasoned Action It is essentially a series of linked concepts and hypotheses
postulated and developed by social psychologists to
understand and to predict human behavior. (R.A.: Law et al.,
; Baker, ; Gounaris et al., ).
 Theory of Planned Behavior It is an extension of the theory of reasoned action made
necessary by the original model’s limitations in dealing with
behaviours over which people have incomplete volitional
control (Ajzen, ). (R.A.: Law et al., ; Baker, ).
 Schema Theory It states that all knowledge is organized into units, where
information is stored. (R.A.: Taylora et al., ).
 Attitude Theory It refers to a modification of an individual’s general evaluative
perception of a stimulus or a set of stimuli. (R.A.: Fernandes &
Proença, ; Taylora et al., ).
 Grounded Theory It involves the progressive identification and integration of
categories of meaning from data. (R.A.: Baker, ).
 Innovation Diffusion Theory Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated
through certain channels over time among the members of a
social system. (R.A.: Law et al., ; Baker, ).
 Personal Construct Theory It is a theory that aims to explain the individual’s beliefs and world
view by his/her “personal constructs”—cognitive dimensions
formed by two opposite poles (Paszkowska-Rogacz &
Kabzińska, ). (R.A.: Kearns & Hair, ).
 Means–End Theory It seeks to characterize the relationships among particular objects
or behaviors, “the means,” and the outcomes and personal
values “the end.” (R.A.: Kearns & Hair, ; Gounaris et al.,
).
 The Jug and Mug Theory of The jug and mug theory of education: the child is the empty mug,
Education the teacher is the full jug, the jug is tipped into the empty mug.
(R.A.: Mummalaneni & Sivakumar, ).
(Continued).
 Gardner’s Multiple According to the theory, each human being is capable of seven
Intelligences Theory relatively independent forms of information processing, with
individuals differing from one another in the specific profile of
intelligences that they exhibit (Gardner & Hatch, ). (R.A.:
Mummalaneni & Sivakumar, ).
 Structural Risk It is an inductive principle for model selection used for learning
Minimization Theory from finite training data sets. (R.A.: Xu & Qiu, ).
 Cross-Cultural It is the study of cross-cultural similarities and differences in
Organizational Theory processes and behavior at work and the dynamics of
cross-cultural interfaces in multicultural domestic and
international contexts.(R.A.: Deshpandé & Farley, ).
 Organizational Behavior Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the
Theory impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on
behavior within an organization. (R.A.: Hennig-Thurau &
Thurau, ).
 Relational Exchange It is based on the notion that parties to an exchange are in
Theory mutual agreement that the resulting outcomes of the
exchange are greater than those that could be attained
through other forms of exchange. (R.A.: Keith et al., ).
 Central Place Theory It is an attempt to explain the spatial arrangement, size, and
number of settlements. (R.A.: Winsor, Leisen, Leach, & Liu,
).
 Justice Theory A theory, however elegant and economical, must be rejected or
revised if it is untrue; likewise, laws and institutions, no matter
how efficient and well-arranged, must be reformed or
abolished if they are unjust. (R.A.: Wetsch, ).
 Theory of Creative Creative destruction refers to the incessant product and process
Destruction innovation mechanism by which new production units replace
outdated ones. (R.A.: Keiningham et al., ).
 Competitive Advantage Competitive advantages have been studied as one of the most
Theory controversial and challenging topics in the field of strategic
management, the dimensions and different approaches. (R.A.:
Hsu et al., ).
 Item-Response Theory It is concerned with accurate test scoring and development of
test items. (R.A.: Kamakura, ).
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Customer relationship management theories, Theories playing vital role in

Conference Paper · February 2016

Customer Relationship Strategies at Airline Industries. View project

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ISSN: 1533-2667 (Print) 1533-2675 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjrm20

Customer Relationship Management Theory and

Rajarshi Debnath, Biplab Datta & Susmita Mukhopadhyay

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15332667.2016.1209053

Published online: 01 Dec 2016.

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Customer Relationship Management Theory and Research

that maintaining relationships with customers is a function of the marketing man-

According to Mohammadhossein and Zakaria (2012), managers must have at least

Table . Ranking of diﬀerent marketing journals.

 Journal of     .  , 

Table . Journal ranking as per SCImago journal & country rank.

Table . Number of CRM articles published in six top-tier journals (–).

 Journal of Relationship Marketing  .

text databases which were searched to provide a comprehensive bibliography of the

Content analysis methods

Figure . Year-wise distribution of CRM articles

Table . Contribution of subjects.

maintain relationships with customers to achieve revenue goals (Ingram et al.,

Table . Distribution of CRM articles by subject area.

Table . Status of the established theories.

 Social Exchange Theory. 

Marketing: Customer Retention; Customer Value; Pricing and Profitability; Cus-

Status of established theories

Directions for future research

(a) Customer prioritization

(b) Customer orientation

(c) Customer referral

(d) Customer loyalty

Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder, Canniére, and Van Oppen (2003) distinguished

(e) Customer participation

(f) Customer retention

2. Customer relationship management

(b) Performance management

(c) Management, planning, and strategy

3. Information technology and information systems

(a) Technology management

determine underlying factors that may influence consumers’ transferability of new

4. Service and support

(a) Sales management

Limitations and conclusion

McIntyre, S. H. (2003). Building consumer relationships electronically. Journal of Relationship

S. No. Dimensions Reference

Overview of the theories used in CRM articles

S. No. Theory Details of theory

 Economic Theory The theory characteristically proceeds by building a model, a

 Stewardship/Agency Theory It argues that shareholder interests are maximized by shared

 Script Theory It is a psychological theory which posits that human behavior

 Persuasion Knowledge The theory represents a form of domain-speciﬁc knowledge

 Contingency theory It allows analyzing a situation and determining what variables

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