Can organizational learning foster customer relationships? Implications for performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of both organisational learning and customer relationship management (CRM) on a firm's performance, as well as the potential mediating role of CRM in the link between organisational learning and performance.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on the literature, the authors designed a framework that links organisational learning, CRM, and performance. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to purify the measurement scales, and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings – The findings provide support for a positive relationship between organisational learning and CRM. The results also indicate that organisational learning has a significant indirect effect (through CRM) on performance.
Originality/value – Knowledge of the learning-CRM-performance chain is limited to a few conceptual articles. This research is one of the first empirical studies designed to examine the importance of CRM as one of the mediating mechanisms that can explain the association between learning and performance.