The impact of Customer Relationship Management on Customer Satisfaction in Telecommunication Industry in Zimbabwe

This research focused on Telecommunication organizations such as Telecel Zimbabwe and Netone in Zimbabwe which have been facing challenges such as stiff competition, failure to adopt innovation, high expenses, decline in subscriptions and decline in sales revenue. Some have been failing to pay rentals. The researcher aimed at gaining an understanding on CRM of Telecommunication organizations in Zimbabwe, determining the impact of CRM on customer satisfaction in Telecommunication industry in Zimbabwe, identifying factors which influence customer satisfaction in the telecommunication industry in Zimbabwe and recommending strategies which can be adopted by telecommunication organizations to improve their CRM. This study adopted the disconfirmation of expectations model, Kano model analysis and the rational expectations model. Positivism was deemed necessary so as to collect creditable data from the subjects to attain some law-like generalisations. Positivism enabled the researcher to make strong claims about reliability, objectivity and the usefulness of knowledge he had to offer. The researcher adopted quantitative research strategy to measure the relationship between study variables as well as counting, categorising, measuring and identifying patterns in data. Cross-sectional studies were used to eliminate bias in a research study. This study was conducted in Harare in three organizations namely Econet, Telecel and Netone. A sample size of 291 respondents was obtained using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) tables. The findings showed that CRM comprises the business processes and organization performs to identify, select, acquired, develop, retain and better services customers, organizations could enhance their profitability and attain strategic objectives through the use of customer relationship management, trust influence customer satisfaction in the telecommunication industry and an organization should adopt a customer centric approach of tailoring solutions to the customer’s ever changing needs. This study concludes factors such as shared value and empathy influence customer satisfaction in the telecommunication industry. Strategies of improving customer relationship management includes training employees on how to handle customers, proper coordination of resources and coming up with new channels in distributing goods. Telecommunication companies can benefit from this research by getting to understand CRM strategies which they can use to improve customer satisfaction in the industry thereby improve their market share, sales revenue, profitability and fight stiff competition. This study's findings assist CRM practitioners in developing innovative CRM policies and practices. The findings may also be utilized to enhance management ability in developing and implementing CRM initiatives that are relevant to Zimbabwe's CRM requirements