Intention to use mobile customer relationship management systems

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the behavioral intentions of business-to-business (B2B) sales managers to use mobile customer relationship management (CRM) systems in the course of their day-to-day activities.

Design/methodology/approach – An extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of mobile CRM system adoption is developed and tested with data from 105 international sales managers representing five B2B companies.

Findings – The study extends the TAM framework with three additional constructs derived from mobile technology and sales force automation literature, namely personal innovativeness in the domain of IT, perceived risk, and perceived reachability. The model demonstrates that personal innovativeness and perceived reachability have significant effects on the TAM framework.

Research limitations/implications – The relatively small sample size limits the generalization of the results.

Practical implications – Sales managers’ intention to adopt mobile CRM can be explained by the extended TAM framework. Understanding the key factors that influence intention to adopt a mobile CRM system will aid companies in implementing it among their sales force. Companies willing to foster adoption of a mobile CRM system among the sales force could focus on communicating the usefulness of using the system and benefits gained from enhanced reachability. Recruiting sales people with strong personal innovativeness is beneficial.

Originality/value – This study responds the calls for studies on mobile platforms and on the use of mobile B2B applications in sales force management. It is among the first attempts to incorporate variables derived from mobile technology acceptance literature among the sales force into the TAM framework, to better explain acceptance of mobile CRM systems.