An investigation into the capture and use of customer feedback by small and medium enterprises

Abstract

This study is an exploration into the activity of customer feedback capture within SMEs in Nova Scotia. Market orientation and innovation, constructs seemingly related to customer feedback capture, are examined. External market forces as well as internal capacities that may impact this activity are also reviewed. The resulting small sample size and high percentage of micro sized firms in the sample impeded robust manipulation of the data. However, initial findings point to a high propensity for microsized firms to utilize social media for customer feedback capture. This result contradicts expectations set according to models of organizational complexity. In analysis, T-tests were conducted using two groups created by mean splitting: a low market orientation group and a high market orientation group. The low market orientation group had significantly lower levels of total feedback method use, agility, and innovation as compared to the high market orientation group. In regression testing using total methods as the dependent variable and innovation, agility, competitive intensity, market turbulence and technical turbulence as independent variables, only market orientation was shown to be a significant predictor of total feedback methods used. Further, when market orientation was used as the dependent variable and the internal variables of innovation and agility and external variables of competitive intensity, market turbulence and technological turbulence were the independent variables, only agility was found to be a significant predictor of market orientation. More empirical testing on a larger sample size is needed to draw further conclusions.