QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF TAM
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the wide usage of CRM technologies across various professional sectors, it was important to
craft a detailed description of the research context, population, and profile summary of each
participant in order for readers to evaluate the applicability of these findings in their own
professional contexts.
Participant Profiles
A descriptive summary of all 24 interview participants is provided below. The name of
each individual has been replaced by a pseudonym to protect the identity of the participants.
Additionally, the names of their respective land-grant universities are not stated and are simply
replaced by the geographic or Cooperative Extension region in which their university resides.
The summaries include some information about who these individuals are, their experience with
CRM technologies, and a brief overview of their responses to the questions in the semi-
structured interviews.
Annalise Grace
Annalise Grace is an Extension director in the northeastern region. She has previous
experience with CRM technologies, but her current institution is not currently using a CRM
system. Her previous experience includes the use of Salesforce. She defines CRM as lifecycle
contact management, project and task management, and email marketing. Annalise believes that
contact and data management, along with email marketing, are key benefits of CRM systems.
From her experience, she noted varied acceptance of the CRM among employees, with moderate
levels of employee resistance rooted in perceived usefulness. She states that the critical success
factors include leadership commitment, perceived usefulness, training and support, and an
integration strategy. Pre-adoption approaches used include organizational planning and
communications across the organization. Annalise identified costs and resources, data security,
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