The impact of digital marketing and customization on service innovation: Case of Moroccan healthcare services companies during covid-19

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 outbreak has affected the customers’ preferences and purchasing patterns as a result of the restrictive regulations taken by governments. Thus, service companies must adapt to this change by focusing on innovation as a solution to survive this crisis. Therefore, the basic objective of this study is the development of an integrated framework to investigate the impact of digital marketing and customization on service innovation in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Data were collected from 53 Moroccan companies operating in the healthcare services industry. The data was analyzed, and the theoretical model was validated using Partial least square (PLS) and structural equation model (SEM). The findings show that integration of digital marketing improves service innovation;customization of service offerings improves service innovation;customization has a higher impact on service innovation compared to digital marketing;and finally, customization has a significant effect on digital marketing. The contribution of this study is to emphasize the roles of customization and digital marketing, during the COVID-19 crisis, on companies’ service innovation so that they can differentiate their offered services and survive the current crisis. © 2021 International Consortium for Electronic Business. All rights reserved.