A systematic review of the dark side of CRM: the need for a new research agenda

ABSTRACT

Technology provides businesses with the opportunity to better engage with customers, but the speed and scope of transformation in customer management have triggered a dark side, affecting people, companies and societies. Research is needed to structure and manage the dark side concept more systematically, considering aspects of dark side behaviours in relation to customer relationship management. Marketers frequently cite research on surveillance, cyber resilience, the dark web, theft by customers/staff, the illicit monetisation of data to third parties, and many other topics as examples of the dark side. The paper reviews the current state of the research and practice regarding the dark side of CRM and explores the dimensions and consequences. A conceptual framework is devised, which captures four important drivers of the dark side – namely unfairness, distrust, opportunism and lack of transparency. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Dark side
• relationship marketing
• customer management
• distrust
• unfairness
• CRM

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We mainly base our analysis for the systematic literature review on the journal impact factor and the Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Quality Guide (AJG) 2018. The AJG ranking list, which stems from the UK, includes the classification of research outputs as follows: 4* (best work in the field), 3* (international excellence), 2* (internationally recognised) 1* (nationally recognised).