A critical psychometrical analysis of customer relationship management practices in the Local Government Authorities in SADC

The purpose of the study is to explore the critical success factors for CRM in the local government authorities in SADC. Although many empirical studies have been conducted on customer-relationship-management (CRM), little research on the psychometric properties of CRM scale items in the local government authorities’ context has been conducted. This empirical study, based on key informant data drawn from sampled local government authorities in three SADC countries (Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa), developed a reliable scale with demonstrated content and convergent validity. In this study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed using the Amos 18 version and the SPSS version 20 software. The study results revealed that for CRM Strategy success to be achieved, LGA needs to consider the following factors: Due diligence, Strategy focus and alignment, customer focus, change management, Implementation Strategy, Implementation approach, Metrics, Project management, Process design, Buy-in and adoption. Therefore, the study results suggested that city and town council managers must seriously consider all the ten critical success factors to improve the CRM performance of local government authorities.