Understanding Barriers to Customer Engagement Center Adoption in Digital Service Systems: Evidence from Kuwait

Abstract

Customer Engagement Centers (CECs) represent the latest evolution of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), integrating artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and omnichannel platforms to deliver proactive, real-time customer interactions. Despite global advancements, adoption in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, such as Kuwait, remains limited, even though the region demonstrates high digital readiness. This study empirically investigates the barriers to CEC adoption across Kuwait’s banking, healthcare, and government service sectors. Using a structured survey of 456 respondents, including managers and customers, the study applies descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis to identify critical impediments. The findings highlight privacy concerns, customer acceptance issues, and insufficient top management support as the most significant barriers, with privacy and acceptance emerging as the strongest predictors of adoption intent. The results emphasize that behavioral and organizational challenges outweigh technological readiness in shaping adoption outcomes. This research contributes to service informatics and digital transformation literature by contextualizing CEC adoption barriers in a digitally advanced but culturally conservative environment. Practical recommendations are provided for policymakers and managers to enhance trust, simplify customer experience, and strengthen governance frameworks to accelerate digital service innovation.