The Moderation of Cultural Difference on Consumer Relationship Management in Belgium, the United States, and China

Abstract

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a strategic approach aiming to create and improve shareholder value by creating and managing suitable relationships with their corresponding customer segments. As national culture is one of the fundamental factors that distinguishes customers from one country to another, the objective of this study is to explore how cultural factors influence CRM. Empirically, this study tests how different cultural dimensions from Belgium, the United States, and China could influence CRM of a global company, Starbucks. By doing so, the study borrows the CRM framework from De Wulf et al. (2001) as the main theory framework, and uses the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede (2011) to test the former. To be specific, this study tests if masculinity, indulgence, power distance, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation would affect the six relationships among tangible rewards, direct messages, preferential treatment, interpersonal communication, perceived relationship investment, relationship quality, and customer behavioral loyalty, respectively.