Impact of Online Customer Relationship Management (OCRM) Upon Customers Satisfaction in Post Covid-19 Scenario. A Case Analysis of Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of online Customer Relationship Management (OCRM) on the level of customer satisfaction and retention in the Pakistani Banking industry. Recent past has witnessed workplace shift toward workspace especially in post-Covid scenario. Covid-19 pandemic have pushed banks in developed countries to move its day-to-day operations to purely online, following which Pakistani banks are also going global yet customer satisfaction and retention still remains a dilemma. A case analysis of Standard Chartered Bank has been chosen in the relatively troubled state of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This research is an attempt to empirically highlight the importance of OCRM for the banks’ overall growth and performance. A causal relation between customers’ satisfaction and retention with that of OCRM is examined through various pathways. Primary data from 100 staff members from 18 branches of the bank were collected using convenience sampling and questionnaire-based survey in summer 2020. Six hypotheses were developed and testing using regression analysis. The results suggest that OCRM bears direct positive relation with customer satisfaction and retention with moderating effects of perceived value, price and switching cost. Through customized services, banks should rigorously pursue online services and treat this pandemic an opportunity. Online services can be viable platform for positioning the banks’ new offerings to customers. Important lessons and recommendations for banking industry are put forward. The paper concludes with limitations and contributions. Keywords: Standard Chartered, Online CRM, customers, satisfaction, retention, banks, Covid-19.