Presence of Social Client Relationship Management within the Nigerian Construction Industry

Abstract

Client relationship management (CRM) has become a subject matter of interest to both academics and business practitioners. This is because it reflects the need to manage successful and profitable client relationships for organizations. Construction organizations, as well as the construction industry, are vital components of economic development in Nigeria, but many organizations struggle to perform the client relationships expected of them. The use of social media in the present era has given power to the relevant stakeholders to express their perceptions to a very large audience on the social media platforms of construction organizations. The application of social media to marketing is essential to managing client relationships. This research has been carried out to examine the level of awareness and use of social client relationship management (CRM 2.0) in Nigerian contracting and consulting construction organizations. In other words, the purpose of the study is to examine the level of adoption of social media platforms in client relationship management in the construction industry in Nigeria. The study also assessed the barriers to the adoption of the use of social media platforms in client relationship management. Using a questionnaire survey, a purposive quota sampling technique was utilized for the collection of data from contracting and consulting firms. The findings reveal that contracting and consulting firms have little to no awareness of CRM 2.0. This study suggests that Nigerian construction organizations are still hesitant to implement social media in a business environment and fully adopt CRM 2.0 in the construction industry.

Keywords

• client
• social client relationship management
• construction organizations
• social media