Alternative pathways to utilizing customer knowledge: A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

This study explores alternative configurations of causes to customer knowledge utilization using a set theoretic approach with fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The study uses a previous empirical dataset of Salojärvi, Sainio, and Tarkiainen (2010) to assess organizational factors that enhance customer knowledge utilization. The results show that use of key account management teams and customer relationship management systems are core predictors for high degrees of customer knowledge utilization. However, these core causes are not sufficient on their own; they need to be accompanied by different degrees (i.e. high/low) and combinations of other peripheral antecedents, such as customer relationship orientation, top management involvement, and formalization. This study shows that many firms make trade-off decisions regarding the use of these core and peripheral conditions. The present study identifies alternative pathways to customer knowledge utilization, discuss their differences, and suggest managerial implications and future research directions.