Abstract:
As with digital change, social customer relationship management (social CRM) has
emerged as the essential strategy to enhance firm performance by cornbining traditional
customer relationship practices with social media technology' The aim of this study is to
examine the impact of social cRM capabilities on firm performance with focus on the
moderating role of social media usage among medium and large-scale manufacturing firms
in the Kurunegala District, Sri Lanka. Employing the Resource-Based view (RBV) and
Dynamic capability Theory, capability of social cRM was evaluated by means of
information generation and dissemination, and firm performance was evaluated in terms of
financial and perceived measures. A standardized questionnaire was utilized to gather data
from 160 firms', in which 97 validlesponses were obtained' Using descriptive statistics'
correlation analysis, regression analysis, and moderation analysis, the results revealed a
strong positive relationship between social cRM capabilities and business performance'
The use of social media also moderated the relationship significantly, enhancing the
positive effect of social cRM. The results are informative for managels who wish to
optimize digital customer engagement strategies and contribute to the current literature on
CRM in the context of emerging economies'
Keywords; social cRM Capabilities, social Media usage, Firm Performance
