| Customer relationship management (CRM), an integration of information technology and business processes, allows marketers to execute relationship marketing at an enterprise-wide level. This dissertation examines the notion of CRM assimilation in the context of marketing organizations. CRM assimilation is defined as the acceptance, utilization and know-how of an IT based CRM system in planning and implementing a firm's relationship marketing strategies and activities. Based on the theory of structuration, it is argued that three kinds of institutionalized structures positively impact CRM assimilation, i.e., structures of signification, structures of legitimization, and structures of domination. Organizational manifestations of these structures are conceptualized as: signification (relational knowledge stores, technology knowledge stores, and process formalization), legitimization (relational orientation, top management championship, and organizational innovativeness), and domination (control mechanisms, and interfunctional alignment). It is also argued that CRM assimilation positively impacts the performance consequences of using CRM.; The hypothesized effects of various institutionalized structures on CRM assimilation were tested on data from a mail survey of CRM adopter firms in North America. The total achieved sample size was made up of 201 firms. Measures were purified with confirmatory factor analysis, and three-stage least squares estimation was used for testing the hypotheses. Results indicate that all the structures of signification (relational knowledge stores, technology knowledge stores, and process formalization) positively impact CRM assimilation. Two structures of legitimization (top management championship and organizational innovativeness) positively impact CRM assimilation. Relational orientation, the third structure of legitimization, unexpectedly had a negative impact. Among structures of domination, only output control had a positive impact on assimilation. Finally, it was also established that CRM assimilation positively impacted CRM Performance. |
