CRM in the public sector: towards a conceptual research framework

Customer Relationship Management has been well discussed as a holistic concept for the private sector to start, maintain and optimize relationships to make customers more loyal/profitable – in sum to improve the relationship with the consumers. Many companies have invested into the customer driven CRM concept but research indicates varying outcomes. Recent publications, mainly driven by the private sector rather than academia, show a rising interest about the application of CRM in the public sector domain. There the term Citizen Relationship Management is also used. Since CRM is a concept enabled by technology this topics is closely connected to the Digital Government research agenda. Long term changes to the structure and organization of the public administration we know as of today, as well as the citizen government relationship are imminent and need further attention. In this paper, I review the latest findings in CRM research from the private sector and connect it to the public sector. The goal is to identify a framework for future research.