Modelling Augmentation of Marketing Ambidexterity, Competitive Advantage and Sustained Profitability of Firms through Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Powered Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Capabilities

<p dir="ltr">Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force within Customer Relationship Management (CRM), as it enables organisations to revolutionise their customer interactions, personalise their marketing strategies, and streamline their operational efficiency. AI-powered CRM systems, such as Salesforce, Zoho, and HubSpot, are being increasingly adopted by businesses to enhance their productivity and performance. Despite this trend, a significant gap remains in our understanding of the specific dimensions of AI-powered CRM’s capabilities and how these contribute to organisational outcomes such as sustained profitability and sustained competitive advantage. This study addresses these gaps by exploring two central research questions: (1) What are the dimensions and sub-dimensions of AI-powered CRM capabilities? and (2) How do these capabilities, particularly through the mechanism of marketing ambidexterity, influence sustained profitability and sustained competitive advantage of firms?</p><p dir="ltr">This research adopts a robust, multi-method approach, comprising three distinct studies. Study-1 involves a scoping literature review that systematically maps the existing academic and industry landscape, providing a foundational understanding of AI-powered CRM systems. Study-2 consists of a qualitative analysis based on 24 in-depth interviews with AI-powered CRM system experts, which identifies three major dimensions of AI-powered CRM: data management capability, multi-channel integration capability and service offerings capability. These dimensions are further divided into sub-dimensions; namely, data governance, data intelligence, data privacy, content consistency, process consistency, personalisation, automation and meaningfulness. The findings of these studies are synthesised into a hierarchical conceptual model that elucidates the relationships between AI-powered capabilities and key organisational outcomes.</p><p dir="ltr">To validate this model empirically, Study-3 was conducted, entailing a quantitative survey of 205 employees from leading banks, the results of which were analysed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling. The results of Study-3 confirm that AI-powered CRM capabilities significantly enhance both sustained profitability and sustained competitive advantage, with marketing ambidexterity serving as an important mediator. This mediation highlights the importance of balancing exploration and exploitation within marketing strategies in order to harness fully the potential of AI-powered CRM systems.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p>