Customer knowledge (CK) is the combination of experience, value and insight information which is needed, created and absorbed during the transaction and exchange between the customers and enterprise.[1] Campbell (2003) defines customer knowledge as: "organized and structured information about the customer as a result of systematic processing".[2] According to Mitussis et al. (2006), customer knowledge is identified as one of the more complex types of knowledge, since customer knowledge can be captured from different sources and channels.[3][4]
Various classifications exist: Gebert et al. (2002), classified customer knowledge from an organization's perspective into three types:[1]
The same categorization of customer knowledge has been made by others such as Bueren et al. (2005) and Feng and Tian (2005).[5][6] In another categorization, Crié and Micheaux (2006) divide customer knowledge into two types, namely: "Behavioural" (or Quantitative) and "Attitudinal" (or Qualitative). Behavioral knowledge is easy to acquire and is basically quantitative by nature; that is, containing a customer transactional relations with the company. On the other hand, attitudinal knowledge is difficult to acquire because it deals with a customer's state of mind; but meanwhile it is an important factor for enhancement of customer knowledge because they are directly related to a customer's thoughts and insights.
Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) concept emerges as a crucial element for customer-oriented value creation. CKM is important for collecting, collaborating, compositing and communicating customer knowledge.[7]
Journals:
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
