Enhancing Customer Knowledge Management in Enterprise Software Development Companies: Experts Perspective on a Theoretical Framework

The use of Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) in different companies, particularly software companies, is growing. Significant beneficial outcomes from CKM encourage companies to implement CKM. This study proposes a theoretical framework based on CKM antecedent factors in enterprise software development companies. The level of significance of CKM antecedent factors was identified by experts in order to improve software quality in software companies. Knowledge-based View (KBV) and Theory of Technology in a Generic CKM Framework were assimilated to demonstrate the Organizational, Human and Technological antecedent factors that enable CKM processes to improve software product quality. A Theoretical CKM Framework was developed by extracting Human, Organizational and Technological factors from the literature, then, the Technique for order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) Multi -Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method was applied to find the importance level of factors to CKM development in software companies. The weight and priority of factors were determined by 31 experts in enterprise software development companies. The results show that, from an expert viewpoint, CKM antecedent factors are categorized into high priority and low priority groups. Organizational factors such as Customer Involvement , Customer-Centric Culture and CKM Strategy Development are high priority. Due to the importance of CKM for organizations, this study provides a significant contribution to CKM by extracting and ranking CKM antecedent factors for enterprise software development. It is recommended that software companies emphasize high priority antecedent factors to successfully implement CKM.

Keywords:

Customer Knowledge Management , Software Quality , Enterprise Software Development , TOPSIS , Customer Relationship Management