International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)

ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-8, August 2014

Studying the Impact of Customer Knowledge

Management on Relationship Marketing
(Iranian study)
Fateme Saghari, Mostafa Taheri, Hajar Aminpour, Maryam Sheidaee
be considered as well. Applying knowledge management
Abstract The severity of competition in the markets and along with the foundations of relationship marketing provides
understanding the importance of customer retention for the this possibility for the organizations to be able to recognize
organizations made them to gradually take steps towards the the opportunities emerged in the market by more probability
creation and retention of long-term relationships with the
and to increase their competitive advantage. RM as a
customers and according to researchers' idea, customer
knowledge management and relationship marketing are the
long-term database system application by an enterprise to
most appropriate options in the organizations to achieve this understand a customers profile and further develop relation-
goal. In the present study, the effect of customer knowledge ships through various communication channels to deliver
management on the relationship marketing was addressed and value and service. (Ing Wu 2012) Moreover, long-term
studied. l97 questionnaires were distributed among the relationship with customers should be created and important
presidents and deputies and the experts who were the members and valuable activities should be identified, reinforced and
of statistical population (1440 persons of some branches of Melli improved through which more customers can be attracted and
Bank in Mazandaran province). remained faithful to the organization. Diversity in the services
After encoding, the collected data were entered into Lisrel and
offered is evident and client orientation strategy have been
SPSS software and was tested. The results of regression and
correlation coefficient test showed that there is a meaningful
increased (Klerkxa, 2012).
relationship between customer knowledge management and In the direction of the same purpose, Iranian banks always
relationship marketing. Finally, the results of structural tried to present some guidelines and plans to create and retain
equation model test by Root mean square error of long-term relationships with customers and ultimately to
approximation (RMSEA) less than 0.10 and goodness of fit make them faithful. However, planning in this way entails the
index more than 0.9 confirmed goodness of model and banks understand their own strengths and weaknesses in
khi-square (khi2) ratio by freedom degree less than 5 also respect of creating a relationship with the customer and
confirmed the validity of model, totally it showed that the making them faithful and also study the importance level of
generalization of structural equation model including the effect
the performed practices in the view of customers. Therefore,
of customers knowledge management on the relationship
marketing is confirmed among the personnel of Melli banks in in this research, we study the effect of customer knowledge
Mazandaran province. management on the foundations of relationship marketing in
the selected branches of Melli Bank in Mazandaran province.

Index Terms Customer Knowledge Management, II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Relationship Marketing, Banking.
By extremely severe competition and sale stagnation, the
creation of customer fidelity has become difficult for the
I. INTRODUCTION
companies. The researches have repeatedly shown that
Today, companies with superior performance in different finding a new customer is 4 to 5 times more costly than the
industries are going towards customer retentions and their retention of the previous customer. It is recommended to use
fidelity attraction because most markets are at their maturity the knowledge management architecture which organizes
stage, the competition is increasing and costs for the new customer information (Sheth, 2001).
customer attraction have severely been increased (Kotler & Creating the value which includes the modern knowledge or
Armstrong, 1999). Due to the acceleration of changes in by updating the knowledge will capable the organization to
enterprise environments and by entering new competitors, achieve a superior position in the future competition (Zhao,
current banks seeking to attract and retain the creditors and 2012). Many organizations utilize appropriate strategies to
their current profitability levels should spend more resources facilitate the acquisition and absorbtion of knowledge.
for educational activities and absorption of high efficiency for Knowledge management is a necessity and a source of
human resource and should apply new and novel techniques. competitive advantage in most organizations (Teoa, 2012).
Knowledge is a key competitive factor in the global economy, On the other hand, the human factor is critically important,
but for a successful presence in todays dynamic market, since even with the best defined processes and the most
another important component named as the customer should advanced technology the relation between people still has a
determinant role in the implementation of any business
Manuscript received August 23, 2014. strategy (Moreno, 2011)
Fateme Saghari, MBA department, PayamNour University, Iran
Mostafa Taheri, Management Department , Payam Noor University, Relationship marketing is one of the major paradigms in the
Iran marketing literature proposed over 20 years ago and caused
Hajar Aminpour, Executive Management department, Islamic Azad many changes in marketing paradigm from transaction
Universit of Science & Researchy, Iran marketing towards relationship marketing (Gronroos, 1997).
Maryam Sheidaee, noshirvani university of technology, Iran

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 Studying the Impact of Customer Knowledge Management on Relationship Marketing (Iranian study)

Traditional marketing has emphasized on the importance of Chiou et al. (2005) introduced three classes of variables as the
new customer attraction but relationship marketing obviously foundations of relationship marketing in the banking industry
emphasizes on the importance of long-term supportive which includes a financial relationship, social relationship
relationship development with current customers and assumes and structural relationship. Sin (2002) studied the effect of
that it is logical to try to spend the energy and resources for relationship marketing on business performance of
the current customers instead of attracting new customers. For companies, so he investigated trust, social relationships,
marketers, strategic importance of creating long term communications, common values, sympathy and mutual
relationship is based on this assumption that the relation of the attempt as main variables of relationship marketing. Richard
existing customer is easier and cheaper than finding new and Perrin (1999) introduced some variables such as
customers (Kalwani & Narayandas, 1995). In fact, durability of relationship, validity, adaptation and marginal
organizations which select relationship marketing procedure sale as the foundations of relationship marketing.
are able to improve their business performance. Rashid (2003) introduced trust, commitment, social
In a research, Sin et al. (2002) addressed to study some relationships, sympathy, positive experiences, performance of
performance aspect of the companies in a number of service commitments and communications as main constituent
based industries in respect of the study of relationship variables of relationship marketing.
marketing foundations. The results of their studies showed Dubisi and wah (2005) introduced trust, commitment,
that relationship marketing has a positive and meaningful communications, metrics and conflict management as the
effect on sales growth, market share and ROIof these main relationship marketing variables.
companies. Izquierdo and Cillan (2005) investigated the In this research, we address to study the effect of customer
effect of relationship marketing on company's performances. knowledge management on the foundations of relationship
Their findings showed that relationship marketing had an marketing in some branches of Melli Bank in Mazandaran
important effect on economic performance of the companies. province. This issue is considered based on a framework
In Iran , an increase in the competition among the companies obtained by customer knowledge management model adapted
have been observed and in the case of introducing into global from Yingchun (2007) which includes the dimensions of
markets, the severity of competition will be getting even more customer knowledge acquisition and production, saving and
intense. Perhaps today, these companies can survive by the distribution of knowledge and its implementation; the
same traditional concepts of production, product and sale but relationship marketing foundation model is also adopted from
gradually by introducing foreign companies in these fields, the Dubisi model (2005) which has communication
the competitive situations will not be in such manner. Despite management dimensions including conflict management, trust
of Iran, many organizations abroad, especially in and commitment. Several researches have been performed
service-based sectors, regarding to its characteristic which is about knowledge management as well as relationship
the close relationship between buyers and sellers, have tried to marketing but there are a few researches about their
approach the customer and even consider the customer as relationship. In an article by Yichen (2006) entitled Having
their partners. They have considered relationship marketing knowledge to create a method for relationship with the
as the sole way to create and develop long-term relationships customer management, the goal of research was to study the
with customers and have been able to use well the advantages factors which have a key effect on the organizational
of permanent relationship with the customers. Therefore, performance and study three variables of customer knowledge
during the considered period, this research addresses and source, customer knowledge management and measurable
reviews the effect of customer knowledge management on the performance of customer knowledge which was finally stated
basis of relationship marketing in the selected branches of that customer knowledge and customer knowledge
Melli Bank in Mazandaran province. Hence, in this research, management were the factors having key effects on the
the following questions will be studied; organizations performance. Akhavan (2008) studied
Do the variables of customer knowledge management have customer knowledge management where knowledge and
any effect on the foundations of relationship marketing? customer are placed together; the purpose of this article was
Which of the components of customer knowledge to show that using management and customer based value
management has the most significant effect on the foundations helps the organization to have better understanding of the
of relationship marketing? customer and finally, it was stated that by using customer
knowledge management, the organization can acquire many
III. RESEARCH THEORETICAL CONCEPTS opportunities before the competitors which in fact, increase
The organizations cannot communicate effectively with the the sale and attract new customers which also bring some
customers unless they understand what kind of services, how advantages both for the customers and the company. Bose ans
and when are valuable to the customers and how much they Sugumaran (2003) studied the role of knowledge
can pay for them. The organizations which use customer management in improving the performance of customer
knowledge management, in order to increase the quality of relationship management. Implementation of knowledge
their services to the customers, have found the necessity of management in this research was recognizing the knowledge,
using customer knowledge management to overcome saving the knowledge, knowledge distribution and knowledge
customer data gathering portal and applying it correctly application which finally, it was concluded that using
(Akhavan, 2008). customer based knowledge management brings about the
Regarding to different industries, researchers have regarded development of customer relationship system in the
and implemented various strategies for relationship based organization. Michael and Marius (2004) recognized five
marketing. styles for customer knowledge management and how
intelligent organizations use them to create the value. The
purpose of his study was describing the concept of customer

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 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-8, August 2014
knowledge management and its implementation which and trust. Their results showed that a relationship marketing
resulted in presenting five implementing styles of customer strategy causes commitment and trust.
knowledge management. The general conclusion of this research was that the
Chiou et al. (2005) in a research addressed to study the effect successful banks comparing with unsuccessful banks have
of the variables of relationship associations and customer attempted more to implement relationship marketing strategy
values on customers fidelity. This research was performed and to create long-term relationship with their customers.
among three groups of customers, those who retain their Sin et al. (2002) in a research titled as The Impact of
relationships with the supplier, dissatisfied customers who cut relationship marketing approach on business performance of
their relationship with suppliers and satisfied customers who service-oriented economy, addressed to study the
cut their relationship with the supplier. The results of this foundations of relationship marketing (trust, social
research showed that in respect of the customers who retain relationships, communications, common values, sympathy
their relationships with the supplier, three kinds of and mutual attempt) on the economic performance of the
relationship based associations including financial, social institutions in different industries such as hotel management,
and structural caused to improve customres profitability insurance, financial, business services and etc. in Hong Kong.
values and enjoyment values which finally resulted in the The method of data collection was a questionnaire which was
improvement of customer fidelity. sent to 1000 institutions among which, 279 usable
Adamson et al. (2003) in a research titled as Relationship questionnaires were collected. The results of their studies
marketing, commitment and trust of the customer as a strategy showed that the foundations of relationship marketing have a
for bank sectors of Hong Kong companies, studied the effect positive and meaningful effect on sales growth, market share
of the application of a relationship marketing strategy among and ROI for these companies.
Hong Kong Banks regarding the dimensions of commitment
IV. RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Customer Knowledge Relationship Marketing

Management

Communication
Gaining and producing of
customer knowledge management

Storing customer Conflict management

knowledge

Distribution and
transferring customer Trust
knowledge
Benefiting from
Customer knowledge Commitment

Figure1

: Research Conceptual Model b) Determination of Sample Volume:

A. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In this research, the class-based randomized sampling

method, suitable for research topic, was used and the
The present research according to goal, is placed into applied statistical population was sampled. Sample volume was
researches and based on the classification of kinds of determined by the following statistical formula which the
researches regarding their nature and method, the present volume of the given sample was obtained as number 304 by
research is regarded in the class of correlation researches. the following formula, as a result 304 questionnaires were
distributed among the statistical population.
a) Statistical Population:
Statistical population of the present research includes the n (Z 2 pqN ) /( d 2 (n 1) Z 2 pq)
employees of the branches of Melli Bank in Mazandaran p 0 / 5 q 0 / 5 Z 1.9d d 0 / 05 N 1440
province. The number of these employees is 1440 persons
according to the latest statistics and data.

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 Studying the Impact of Customer Knowledge Management on Relationship Marketing (Iranian study)

c) Goal of Research: B. RESEARCH FINDINGS

The goal of the present research is to study the relationship
and the extent of the effect of customer knowledge a) Regression Correlation Coefficient test of the
management components on the relationship marketing relationship between Customer Knowledge
foundations in order to provide this possibility with the Management and Relationship Marketing
organizations to improve their relationships with the customer
Research hypotheses:
and to increase their fundamental abilities for competition.
Zero hypothesis: There is no significant relationship between
d) The Applied Statistical Techniques:
customer knowledge management and relationship marketing
In this research, Cron bach alpha test was used in order to in Melli Bank of Mazandaran Province.
determine the reliability of the questionnaire, and regression
correlation coefficient test was used to study the relationship Hypothesis one: There is a significant relationship between
between customer knowledge management and relationship customer knowledge management and relationship marketing
marketing foundations and finally, structural equations model in Melli Bank of Mazandaran.
test was used to study the effect of knowledge management on h hypothetical hypotheses:
relationship marketing foundations.
H0 : P 0
H1 : P 0
Coefficients table is used in order to clarify the results of two
variable linear regression.

Table 1: coefficients table

Significance T Standard coefficient Coefficient Model
level non-standard
Beta Standard Regression coefficients
coefficient deviation
000. .078 1.626 Fixed
20.847 .818
000. .031 .602 Km-mana
19.41

Regression equation: ANOVA test examines the acceptability of the model

statistically. The regression row shows the changes in the
Prediction of RM= 1.626 +.602 (effect rate) present model and the remaining row illustrates changes
which are not counted in the present model.
ANOVA:
Table 2: ANOVA table
Model Sum of squares Degrees of freedom Mean Square F Significance level

Regression 33.488 1 33.488 71.402 000.

Remaining 142.219 303
.471
Total 175.707 304
occurred by chance. Therefore, there is a significant
The sum of regression squares and the remaining are
relationship between customer knowledge management and
equivalent. It shows that half of the changes have been shown
relationship marketing at Melli Bank in Mazandaran
by the model. The significance level of F statistic is less than
Province.
0.05 which means that the changes in the model are not
Table 3: Table of Effect Rate
t Correlation Square R (coefficient of The adjusted R SEM
Model coefficient R determination) square
sidual standard
deviations)

1 .818 .669 .700 1.123

the two variables is equal to 81 percent. Since the above ratio
Table 3 reports the intensity of the relationship between the
has a positive sign, the type of the relationship is straight and
model and the dependent variable. Multiple correlation
aligned. The above coefficient shows a relatively strong
coefficient shows that the level and intensity of correlation of

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 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-8, August 2014
relationship between the variable of customer knowledge Patterns of relationship determining the effects of macro
management and the variable of relationship marketing. variables of customer knowledge management on
foundations of relationship marketing among Melli Bank
staffs of Mazandaran Province:
Table 4: Characteristics of the constituent components of variables of knowledge management and relationship marketing
(dependent variable)

Row Independent variables Title in the diagram Title in the Equation

1 Producing of customer knowledge Prod X1
2 Storing customer knowledge Stor X2
3 Distribution customer knowledge Dist X3
4 Benefiting from Customer knowledge Expl X4
Dependent variables
1 Communications management Com Y1
2 Conflict management Con.m Y2
3 Trust Trust Y3
4 commitment commit Y4

Statistical hypotheses: management on the components of relationship marketing

H1 RMSEA 0.10 H 0 RMSEA 0.10 among the staffs of Melli Bank in Mazandaran based on Lisrel
structural equations software is as follows:
The paradigms of causal relationships in the structural
equation model for the components of customers knowledge

Diagram 1: The estimated diagram of Lisrel software

Diagram 2: The Standard estimated diagram of Lisrel software

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 Studying the Impact of Customer Knowledge Management on Relationship Marketing (Iranian study)

Diagram 3: Estimated t-value diagram

the model was not confirmed (which the color of these
T-value diagram determines which variables of the model variables is red in the diagram), however the effect of the
have been confirmed (Du toti & Du toti, 2001). other variables was confirmed. Studying the influencing
T-values diagram has determined that the influence of some results of components of customer knowledge management
variables of customer knowledge management, especially the on the components of relationship marketing, it was
components of the variables of customer knowledge determined that the component of customer knowledge
production on commitment and conflict management, implementation has the highest effect on the component of the
customer knowledge absorption on the conflict management, commitment by an influencing value of 28.81.
customer knowledge storing on commitment and trust, and in
Table 5: Test results and output of LISREL software

Chi-square df Chi-square /df RMSEA AGFA CFI NFI NNFI RFI

3.03 3 1.01 0.006 79.0 1977 1977 1977 0.99

Test result shows that regarding to RMSEA index or root

mean square error of approximation is less than 10 percent V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
(RMSEA=0.006) and goodness of fit index= GFI (goodness The review of researches related to the topic shows that any
of fit index), AGFI (adjusted goodness of fit index), PNFI of them was related to the present research in some way. Some
(parsimony normed fit index), CFI (comparative fit index), of them have only addressed to the topic of customer
knowledge management and some others have generally and
NNFI (non-normed fit index) , NFI(normed fit index) is more simply referred to the effect of customer knowledge
than 0.9 (RFI=0.99, NNFI=1.00, NFI=1.00, CFI=1.00), management on improvement of the relationship with the
therefore, it can be said that the above-mentioned model has customer management.
had a good fit (goodness) of real world data and also , Based on the performed regression analysis , all the variables
regarding to the ratio of khi-square (khi2) to freedom degree is of customer knowledge management have shown a
less than 5(1.01), it confirms the validity of the model which meaningful relation ship with the variables of relationship
means that the generality of structural equation model marketing and as a result , in this research , lisrel software
including the effect of the variable of customer knowledge was used to study the affectivity of the variables of customer
production and acquisition on the components of customer knowledge management on the foundations of relationship
relationship management among the staffs of Melli Bank in marketing and the result of structural equations test shows that
Mazandaran province is confirmed. regarding to RMSEA index or Root mean square Error of
Generally, goodness of fit index places between zero and one. approximation is less than 10 percent (RMSEA =0.006), and
The coefficients which are higher (more) than 90 percent, are goodness of fit index including RFI, NNFI (Non Normed fit
considered as acceptable (Hooman, 2005). As a result, the index), NFI (Normed Fit Index), AGFI (Adjusted Goodness
present model enjoys an acceptable goodness of fit. The other of fit index), PNFI(parsimony Normed fit index) is more than
point is to address the ratio of khi-square to freedom degree. If 0.9 and (RFI=0.99, NNFI=1.00, NFI=1.00, CFI=1.00),
the ratio of khi-square to freedom degree is less (smaller) than therefore, it can be said that the above-mentioned model has
5, the model enjoys a good goodness of fit (Jorsekog, 1970).

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 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-8, August 2014
had a good goodness of fit of real world data and also banking industry:clients perceptions.Journal of Business Research
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