Enhancing Marketing Performance Through Enterprise-Initiated Customer Engagement
1
Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia
2
Institue for Information and Process Management, FHS St. Gallen University of Applied Sciences, 9001 Sankt Gallen, Switzerland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2020, 12(9), 3931; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093931
Received: 16 April 2020 / Revised: 3 May 2020 / Accepted: 7 May 2020 / Published: 11 May 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Customer Relationship Marketing and Brand Management for Business Sustainability)
The exponential speed of technological advancements and the ever-changing needs of customers have changed the way enterprises engage with their customers. However, despite the increasing scholarly interest in the enterprise-initiated perspective of customer engagement (CE) in recent years, it remains unclear what drives enterprises to initiate customer engagement and how enterprise-initiated customer engagement enhances enterprise performance. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a conceptual model that consists of drivers and outcomes of enterprise-initiated customer engagement. After developing a conceptual model based on previous conceptual approaches to customer engagement, a quantitative survey was undertaken to gather the data from business-to-customer micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. The data were analyzed using the partial least square path modelling. The findings showed that external pressure and organizational readiness influence enterprise-initiated customer engagement. Enterprise-initiated customer engagement was also found to influence marketing performance. The empirical findings provide insights for managers that explain what drivers may influence enterprise-initiated customer engagement and what benefits they can expect. Overall, this research extends the understanding of the CE domain and provides additional insights for the drivers and outcomes of enterprise-initiated CE.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Marolt, M.; Zimmermann, H.-D.; Pucihar, A. Enhancing Marketing Performance Through Enterprise-Initiated Customer Engagement. Sustainability 2020, 12, 3931.
AMA Style
Marolt M, Zimmermann H-D, Pucihar A. Enhancing Marketing Performance Through Enterprise-Initiated Customer Engagement. Sustainability. 2020; 12(9):3931.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarolt, Marjeta; Zimmermann, Hans-Dieter; Pucihar, Andreja. 2020. "Enhancing Marketing Performance Through Enterprise-Initiated Customer Engagement" Sustainability 12, no. 9: 3931.
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