Investigating the Relationship between Customer Knowledge Management and Knowledge Sharing among Insurance Companies in Malaysia

Abstract

Recently, customer knowledge management has been widely recognized as a determinant of business performance. However, knowledge of customers that the organization gathers is useless unless it is shared internally. Sharing of this knowledge among organizational members will greatly strengthen the competitiveness of the organization, which makes it possible to take advantage of the competitive dynamics in the business environment. Although the importance of knowledge sharing especially the one that is related to customers has long been recognized by the community of researchers, investigation in this area is very limited. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Customer Knowledge Management dimensions, which consist of knowledge for customers, knowledge about customers, knowledge from the customer and knowledge sharing among insurance companies in Malaysia. A total of 180 managers of insurance companies in Malaysia participated in the survey. The results show that the three knowledge dimensions are positively and significantly related to knowledge sharing. Moreover, the results indicate that the insurance companies have implemented knowledge sharing practices especially in securing and managing their customer data to ensure the currency, accuracy, uniqueness and completeness of the customer data. Finally, research and practical implications are discussed.

Knowledge from customer, for customer or about customer: which triggers innovation capability the most?

“…Knowledge management (KM) is going through a paradigm shift towards a vibrant customer-oriented approach (Chua and Banerjee, 2013; Zahari et al , 2013) where customers play a significant role in business processes. In recent times, the customer has become the most significant source of knowledge for companies (Mehdibeigi et al , 2016).…”

Learning climate and customer-oriented behaviors: the mediation of customer knowledge

“…First, learning-related activities and practices help salespeople broaden their customer knowledge about identifying customer characteristics and types (i.e., trait richness). More specifically, salespeople capture, analyze, and comprehend customers' demographic data, customer history, contacts, needs, expectations, and buying patterns through training and education, imitation, self-directed learning, and discussion with formal or informal communities (Liu and Liu, 2008;Zahari et al, 2013). Salespeople can then apply the acquired knowledge to segment customers and identify the characteristics of different customer types in a more personalized way.…”

“…This argument is especially true of salespeople, who are a bridge between customers' changing requirements and the organization's need to adapt to varying social interactions (Bettencourt et al, 2001). In reality, service employees can develop relationships with customers to deliver a variety of products and services that can improve organizational performance (Zahari et al, 2013). As a result, a salesperson's customer knowledge about customers' expectations and needs should facilitate his or her willingness to serve the customers' interest in the varying sales situations (Wang, 2012).…”

Knowledge Management Capabilities and Hotel Performance in Malaysia: The Role of Market Orientation

“…To cater to the changes and success in the business, the companies must provide knowledge to all their staff (Poloski-Vokic, 2008). Furthermore, Zahari et al (2013) agreed that the 21 st century is the era of knowledge and people at work are able to manage it effectively as part of companies' survival and sustainability. From a macro perspective, Albassam (2019) mentioned that countries must have an effective knowledge management system to maintain sustainability and be part of the inclusive development of such organisation.…”