Maged Ali

A situated cultural approach for cross‐cultural studies in IS

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a comprehensive framework of a situated culture approach to studying culture within the IS discipline.Design/methodology/approach – This is achieved via an articulation of structuration theory and the provision of an approach to study cross‐cultural phenomena within the IS discipline. The paper proposes two main components of a structuration theory based analysis model which is proposed as a way to study culture within IS discipline. First, the paper presents ideas behind the practice lens for studying the use of technology, as proposed by Orlikowski. Second, the paper presents a structurational analysis approach as detailed by Walsham. The paper argues that using a practice lens contributes to identifying the mediated shared structures between actors through understanding the actions of the actors within the phenomena. Then, using a structurational analysis approach contributes to identifying the cultural dimensions that are embedded in the identified mediated shared ...

Facilitating enterprise application integration adoption: An empirical analysis of UK local government authorities

Abstract local government authorities (LGAs) are organised around operational structures with business processes spanning within departments and across other government organisations. In such an organisational setting, the harmonisation of Information Technology (IT) operations, integration of cross-departmental processes and the underlying Information Systems (IS) signifies a challenge in delivering integrated services. This paper attempts to explore enterprise application integration (EAI) adoption in the UK local government authorities (LGAs). Despite the hype of EAI adoption in private domain, its application in LGAs is inadequate as there is a lack of adoption models/frameworks that can be used by the public sector. The context of the study is to consider the transformation of IT infrastructure management and operations with EAI technologies. The empirical findings, generated through a detailed case analysis, manifestly exemplify that EAI predominantly acts as a ‘back-office’ technology that facilitates operations by developing a flexible and maintainable integrated IT infrastructure. Our proposed framework is believed to be imperative and unique as it provides a more systematic way to examine the adoption of integration technologies, extends the established norms for EAI adoption by utilising a prioritisation technique to classify the importance of factors. The contribution of the research extends the literature on EAI and identifies theoretical and practical opportunities that facilitate LGAs in their decision-making process to produce more robust proposals for EAI adoption.

Special issue on CRM: Technology adoption, business implications, and social and cultural concerns

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to this special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management. This issue is dedicated to the publication of selected papers in the customer relationship management (CRM) domain, from technology, business implications, and social and cultural perspectives. Over the course of the last 30 years, there has been a dramatic growth in the acquisition of CRM systems. Understanding and responding to customer needs and improving customer service have become important elements of corporate business strategy, and CRM systems are being used by different organisations to support these strategies. However, more recently, there has been an increase in reported CRM failures, suggesting that the implementation issues are not just technical but encompass wider business, social, and cultural factors. Many CRM implementations do not produce the expected results, and even with technical feasibility, few of the promised benefits of CRM have been fulfilled. Theory in these areas, and areas relating to these interrelationships, remains relatively under-researched. The aim of this special issue is to bridge this gap, and to advance understanding of the application of relevant theoretical perspectives. The first paper by Jung, Ineson, and Green, ‘Online social networking: Relationship marketing in UK hotels’, links social aspects in the form of online social networking (OSN) to relationship marketing in the context of luxury hotels. The authors find that OSNs provide relationship-marketing opportunities and increase business value. The social networking theme is continued in the second paper by Archer-Brown, Piercy, and Joinson, ‘Examining the information value of virtual communities: Factual versus opinion-based message content’, which examines the type of content that is most valued in virtual communities (VCs). In contrast to prior research on advertising, the paper reports that informative content is more highly valued and can lead to enhanced customer relationships and co-production of value. The third paper by Braganza, Stebbings, and Ngosi, ‘The case of customer recruitment processes: Dynamic evolution of customer relationship management resource networks’, tackles head-on the concern that organisations continue to invest heavily in CRM systems that are redundant by the time they are launched, mainly because such systems are designed for stable environments, whereas today’s real business world is turbulent. Based on an in-depth case study, the authors present seven principles to guide the development of customer recruitment processes that are designed for change. Again, the influence of social networks is to the fore, along with stakeholders and resources. The next paper by Iriana, Buttle, and Ang, ‘Does organisational culture influence CRM’s financial outcomes?’, continues the investigation of the antecedents of successful CRM systems. Based on a survey of organisations that have such systems, the paper concludes that an organisation’s culture is strongly associated with CRM success.

A study on e-CRM implementation and e-loyalty at different stages of transaction cycle

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to develop a comprehensive model, explaining the effects of various E-CRM features on e-loyalty at different adoption stages of transaction cycle. Methodology: This is an empirical study; a self-administered survey with Student’s sample has been used. Findings: The findings of this research indicate that E-CRM features have strong impacts on e-satisfaction, which, in turn, has a significant effect on e-loyalty and the mediating role of e-satisfaction is evidenced in this model. Practical implications: The empirical results highlight some managerial implications for successfully developing and implementing a strategy for e-CRM.

A structurational analysis of CRM systems' cultural aspects: a comparative case study

Cultural dimensions are often identified as a crucial influence on the success/failure of Information Systems (IS), specifically Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Prior research proposed a cultural dimensions framework for the management of CRM systems implementation in a multinational environment (Ali and Alshawi, 2005). This paper assesses that framework through a comparative case study in a large multinational organisation in two countries. The study examined the implementation of CRM systems within the one organisation in both Egypt and the UK. Following observation, document analysis and interviews, a Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) analysis was used to determine themes for each case study. Using Structuration Theory (ST) (Giddens, 1979; 1984) as a lens (Orlikowski, 2000; Walsham, 2002), cultural dimensions which may impact CRM systems implementation were derived. The paper concludes by proposing a revised framework of cultural dimensions for the management of CRM systems within multinational organisations.

The Impact of CRM Infrastructural and Cultural Resources and Capabilities on Business Performance: An Application of the Resource-based View in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry

Based on the Resource-Based View (RBV) literature, this study aims at developing and implementing a novel and comprehensive model so as to measure the effect of CRM resources on CRM capabilities and the effect of the latter on business performance. CRM resources are defined as infrastructural CRM resources (i.e. technological resources, human resources, and organizational resources), and cultural CRM resources (i.e. customer orientation, learning orientation, and result orientation). CRM capabilities are measured through an organization’s customer interaction capability, customer relationship upgrading capability, and customer win-back capability. As for performance, this study measures business performance comprehensively from financial and marketing perspectives. Although the results indicate that CRM infrastructural resources has a positive and direct effect on CRM capabilities, the effect of customer orientation culture and learning orientation culture on CRM capabilities was significantly stronger. Further, the results indicate the CRM capabilities significantly and positively affect business performance from marketing and financial standpoints. However, the effect of CRM capabilities on marketing performance was found to be stronger than effect on financial performance and marketing performance was found to partially mediate the relationship between CRM capabilities and financial performance.