While building a strong relationship with customers through engagement is the primary objective of social CRM, a question arises as to what factors influence consumers’ intentions to engage in social CRM programs. Because social media is a new phenomenon, theoretical knowledge about the social customer’s behavior in this domain is very limited. Therefore, an empirical investigation is necessary to enhance knowledge in this new domain.
CRM has become an attractive area of research because of its potential benefits, continuous growth, and the volume of capital investment in this area. Because of its involvement in multiple functional areas in its implementation, CRM research encompasses numerous academic disciplines. Marketing, business and management, and information technology (IT) are some common academic disciplines for CRM research (Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2001; Rajola, 2003). IT departments are heavily involved in CRM implementation; thus a significant amount of research has been undertaken in this area.