The mediating effect of marketing capabilities on the relationship between customer relationship management (CRM) dimensions and hotel performance

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become an increasingly popular academic and practical topic in the business field. In competitive environments such as the hotel industry, CRM has become a crucial strategy to increase hotel performance. However, research that investigates the relationships between CRM dimensions (customer orientation, CRM organization, knowledge management and technology-based CRM) and hotel performance is still limited. This study empirically examines the relationship between CRM dimensions and hotel performance in Malaysia. It also investigates the mediating impact of marketing planning capability and marketing implementation capability on the relationship between CRM dimensions and hotel performance. Data was collected using survey method whereby a total of 410 questionnaires were distributed to hotel managers and yields 37.1 % response rate (152 useable questionnaires returned). The regression analysis was conducted to test the relationships among CRM dimensions, marketing planning capability, marketing implementation capability, and hotel performance. The results show a positive relationship between CRM dimensions and hotel performance. They also indicate that marketing planning capability and marketing implementation capability play a mediating role on the relationship between CRM dimensions and hotel performance. This study demonstrated that CRM organization is the main source of influence on marketing capabilities and hotel performance. Overall, this study enriches the literature by providing evidence of the importance of CRM dimensions in improving hotel performance. Additionally, it also points out to the significant mediating effects of marketing capabilities (planning and implementation) on the relationship between CRM dimensions and hotel performance. From the practical perspective, by understanding the relationship among the constructs in the research model, hotel managers could maximize the utilization of their internal resources to improve organizational performance. It is recommended that future studies should include factors such as external environment and hotel attributes that may influence the relationship between CRM dimensions and hotel performance