An investigation into the adoption of knowledge management processes in hotels’ customer relationship management value chain in Ghana

Abstract

The concept of knowledge management (KM) has attracted the interest of academics and practitioners, but related research in the hospitality sector, especially in hotels, remains underdeveloped. How hotels generate knowledge and identify sources of knowledge to support customer relationship management (CRM) remains unclear due to sociodynamic factors and the uncertain business environment of the 21st century, hence resulting in a gap in the KM and CRM value chain nexus in many developing countries, especially in contexts where hotels struggle in managing their local business performance. This thesis addresses this gap by examining how KM processes inform CRM practices. Drawing upon emic perspectives, this study confirms how hoteliers manage knowledge to make decisions, solve problems and enhance CRM primary value chain activities in Ghana. The study also also explores how hotels engage in KM processes and how such processes affect their CRM practices, which can be influenced by various contextual factors. This thesis contributes knowledge on how various contextual factors facilitate and inhibit KM processes in 3-to-5-star hotels in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. A qualitative approach was adopted, and semi-structured face-to-face in-depth interviews were used to collect the data. Specifically, 36 hotel operational staff and supervisors/managers of 3 departments were interviewed and observed. Purposive and snowball sampling were employed to recruit participants from hotels that are licensed to operate under the mandate of the Ghana Tourism Authority. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. This thesis empirically contributes to the KM literature by expanding the current knowledge on KM and CRM value chain primary activities at the micro-level of hotel properties. By investigating the generative processes of KM for hotel businesses based on organisational knowledge creation theory of the socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation (SECI) model, this thesis highlights the effectiveness of the knowledge generation dimensions in consideration of the influence of KM processes on the CRM of hotels. This research also offers novel insights into those contextual factors that influence the adoption of KM processes in the hotel CRM. The study identifies six CRM primary activities and extends the SECI model by adding digitalisation (D-SECI) to account for the current technological business environment. The study develops an integrative framework to illustrate the integration of KM processes into the CRM value chain activities of hotels to aid hotel managers in strengthening their CRM primary activities and competitive advantage.