Assessing the impact of social media on customer relationship performance

Although firms have recognized the potential of social media as key enablers for relationships building and performance enhancement, there is still a little understanding of how social media usage affects customer relationship performance (CRP). Using SEM, this study aims to investigate how social media information generation, internal information sharing and responsiveness affect CRP. 180 valid and complete questionnaires were collected from managers of firms operating in Italy. Results show that social media information generation and social media responsiveness have a significant and positive effect on the impact of social media on CRP (evaluated by managers), while internal information sharing does not directly affect CRP. This research has relevant managerial implications since it shows that, in order to boost CRP, social media should be used to analyze preferences’ changes and market trends and to be responsive both in terms of interaction on social media and as regards the adoption of changes aimed at responding to customers’ exigencies.