A Conceptual Framework for Utilizing Social Software in Customer Knowledge Management Case study: Hamkaran System Co

Regarding the critical role of knowledge in gaining competitive advantages, businesses experts are focusing on customer’s knowledge more than before according to the recent global advancements. The emergence of web 2.0 and social software applications have opened up a new horizon for companies to engage in a more exciting and meaningful relationship with customers. The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual framework for customer knowledge management using social software. To achieve this goal, a three-stage research strategy including “Designing conceptual framework”, “Validation of a conceptual framework” and “Evaluation of selected companies (Hamkaran System)” is defined. The conceptual framework of research has introduced social software according to three major categories of customer`s knowledge “For”, “From” and “About”. Findings indicate that “Social Networking”, “Blog” and “RSS” are considered as the most important social software so as to manage three main types of customer knowledge. Hence,in this study the use of social software to manage customer`s knowledge is evaluated in Hamkaran System Company. The results of this study also suggest that the company has just utilized “Podcasts” and “RSS” as social software so as to manage customer`s knowledge. Based on information extracted by the researchers, this study is the first research work which follows and explains the role of social software in managing a variety of customer`s knowledge in an organization.