The Influence of Customer Relationship Marketing Strategies on Supply Chain Relationships: The Moderating Effects of Environmental Uncertainty and Competitive Rivalry

Purpose: A firm's customer relationship marketing strategy also may affect its attitudinal loyalty toward its main supplier. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty and competitive rivalry could moderate this relationship. This research investigates both questions.

Methodology/Approach: The empirical study involves a structured survey of 141 industrial firms. A structural equation technique with EQS 6.1 estimated the causal model. Multi-sample analysis revealed whether environmental uncertainty and/or competitive rivalry act as moderators.

Findings: The influence of customer relationship marketing on attitudinal loyalty toward the main supplier is positive but indirect, working through effective communication, satisfaction, and trust. However, when environmental uncertainty is high, the negative direct effect becomes significantly more intense, and when competitive rivalry is high, the positive indirect effect through satisfaction and trust is less intense.

Originality/Value: This study explores potential new paths in the relationship marketing field. Most scholars focus on the influence of a firm's relationship marketing strategy on customers' loyalty, but no previous works consider its potential influence on the firm's relationship with other partners in the supply chain, notably its strategic suppliers.

Research Implications: Structured academic research on this topic is lacking, even though many firms have implemented customer relationship programs. Supply-side researchers must evaluate the effects of such programs. Furthermore, this study combines different theoretical approaches.

Practical Implications: Practitioners can use the findings to segment their customer base and develop specific programs adapted to each target.     

Operationalizing Trust,Reliance, and Dependence in Business Relationships: Responding to the Ongoing Naming and Cross-Level Problems

Purpose: This article is to test the proposition that the 3 conceptually related constructs of trust, reliance, and dependence are distinct from each other and to test the proposition that the quality of business relationships can be measured with a formative index incorporating trust and reliance.

Methodology/Approach: The authors' propositions are tested with a survey sample of 221 firms in the U.K. construction industry. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to analyze the survey data.

Findings: The independence of the 3 focal constructs of trust, reliance, and dependence is confirmed. The formative index is found suitable for evaluating the level of relationship quality in which reliance carries more significant weight than trust.

Research Implications: The separation of the overall construct of “trust” into trust at interpersonal level and reliance at interorganizational level, as found in this study, overcomes the problem existing in past studies that researchers rarely specify at which level trust operates. The clear conceptual distinction between reliance and dependence as found in this study implies that although both operate at the organizational level, they do not have overlapping boundaries. The finding that reliance is a more important impact factor than trust in constructing the formative index supports the notions that reliance is a necessary and sufficient condition for developing sustainable business relationships, and trust is an insufficient condition to sustain an ongoing business relationship.

Practical Implications: Reliance sets the keynote of the business relationship. In contrast, trust as the interpersonal variable only acts as the facilitator to create a favorable social environment. Nevertheless, both trust and reliance have a significant and positive weight in the relationship quality index formed. This means that a business relationship with high levels of both trust and reliance is particularly resilient and stable and is the most successful and desirable one which is frequently oriented toward the long run.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The confirmation of the difference between trust and reliance makes an important contribution to the study of trust in business to business marketing by showing that what has traditionally been treated as theoverall construct of trust can and should be regarded as being made up of two separate constructs: interpersonal trust and interorganizational reliance. The difference between reliance and dependence as an additional finding makes another important contribution by providing conceptual clarity of the two constructs and confirming that there is no overlapping boundary between them. The formative index and the relative importance of its components are another important contribution of this study.     

Relationship and Market Conditions: Outcomes in Marketing Channels

Purpose: In today's highly competitive business environment, many organizations are tending to reduce the number of suppliers to focus on establishing stable and close relationships with a small number of them. The study here analyzes the influence of both market and relationship conditions on trust, commitment, and customer loyalty.

Methodology/Approach: Empirical research was conducted by collecting information from a sample of 304 retailers. A structural equations model is estimated.

Findings: Results support a positive influence of relationship value on trust and, in turn, on long-term orientation and commitment, with the latter as a strong antecedent of customer loyalty. In contrast, dependence on the main supplier does not seem to exert a significant effect on long-term orientation and commitment.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The evidence suggests that relationship conditions are important for creating value in B2B settings. Results shed additional light on the process of calculating, creating and claiming value.     

The Impact of Relational Variables on Value Creation in Buyer–Seller Business Relationships

Purpose: This research was aimed at attaining a deeper knowledge of how customer value creation can be improved in business markets. Although trust and commitment (as relational governance mechanisms) appear to have a positive effect on customer value creation, limited empirical evidence exists about the combined effect of the aforementioned variables on improving customer value creation. This article studies why trust and commitment are key precursors to improving customer value creation in commercial relationships among companies.

Methodology: Following a review of the literature, we introduce and contrast a conceptual model on a sample of 181 manufacturing companies located in Spain by means of a structural equation system.

Originality: The study of these causal relationships is relevant because it provides greater knowledge of the role played by the key relational variables of trust and commitment on improving customer value creation in business markets. These variables also have an important influence on the development and maintenance of a relationship in the long term and have been the focus of recent marketing research.

Findings: The empirical results reveal that: (1) distributor commitment is a direct and positive antecedent of value creation in a relationship, understood from a functionalist perspective; (2) distributor trust, the other relational variable, has an indirect effect on value creation through the distributor's commitment; and (3) this research does not tie in with previous studies that found that direct value-creating functions have a multiple-component nature representing a second-order factor.     

Organizational and Interorganizational Determinants of EDI Diffusion and Organizational Performance: A Causal Model

Electronic data interchange (EDI), a specific form of interorganizational systems, has the potential to significantly influence business operations and the exchange of business documents in a number of industries and to provide substantive tangible and intangible benefits to the participating firms. However, successful implementation and diffusion of these systems innovations requires the cooperation and commitment of all participating member firms. A number of interorganizational as well as internal, organization-specific factors can influence both the extent to which EDI is diffused and used and the level of subsequent benefits that accrue to the firms.

Research from sociopolitical process framework in marketing, organizational theory, innovation theory, use of information technology for competitive advantage, and information systems (IS) implementation was used to identify 3 interorganizational variables (customer support, customer expertise, competitive pressure) and 4 organizational variables (internal support, EDI's benefits potential, EDI compatibility, resource intensity). In this study, we develop a multidimensional measure for EDI diffusion to capture both external integration and internal integration. We then examine the influence of these 7 variables on the extent to which EDI adopter firms pursue diffusion and whether more diffusion leads to superior organizational-level outcomes.

Two senior executives (the chief executive officer and a senior manager responsible for the IS function or EDI) from 83 firms in the motor carrier industry participated in a field survey. The results from a structural equation model (SEM), developed using LISREL, provide quite a strong support for the hypothesized relations. All 4 organizational variables and 2 of the 3 interorganizational variables (customer support and competitive pressure) influence EDI diffusion. The results also indicate that external integration dimension of diffusion enables adopter firms to achieve improved operational and market-oriented performance, whereas internal integration contributes only to operational performance.     

The Critical Role of Relationship Quality in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise Internationalization

ABSTRACT

Due to limited resources, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) carefully develop and leverage relationships with foreign, independent intermediaries. This article investigates “relationship quality,” a collection of intangible organizational resources in the exporter–intermediary relationship that support the internationalization and foreign performance of SMEs. Four dimensions of relationship quality—communication, cooperation, trust, and commitment—are modeled and linked to intermediary performance. Findings highlight the significance of relationship quality, its dimensions, and how they support intermediary performance. Cooperation and commitment are significant performance antecedents. Trust is a significant antecedent of commitment, and communication drives cooperation, trust, and commitment. The study provides SMEs a way to enhance the quality of relationships with, and to help improve the performance of, their intermediaries in export markets.     

A behavioral model of international channel relationships

Purpose: The main purpose of the study is to fill the existing gap in international relationship marketing (IRM) literature by developing and testing empirically a comprehensive conceptual model of firms’ relationship with their marketing channels in export markets. Whereas concepts such as power, conflicts, trust, commitment, and communication have been shown to be related to the economic success of interfirm cooperation in general and buyer–seller relations in particular, the need for a comprehensive model is often expressed in the literature.

Methodology/approach: The authors combine commitment-trust theory with resource-based and knowledge-based view perspectives to develop a new comprehensive conceptual model of firms’ relationship with their marketing channels in export markets. Data from 104 strategic business units in Israel was used to test the model empirically.

Findings: Notably, the model tested explained a higher percentage of the variance in performance. The findings suggest that noncoercive power enhances relationship quality (i.e., communication, trust, and commitment), which in turn improve cooperation and export performance. Conflict had a negative effect on relationship quality. In addition, cooperative conflict management strategies had a positive moderating effect on the conflict— relationship quality link, whereas competitive conflict management strategies had a negative moderating effect on the impact of conflict on relationship quality. Finally, the results suggest that there are strong positive relations between communication and trust and between trust and commitment.

Research implications: The research develops and tests empirically a conceptual comprehensive model of firms’ relationship with their marketing channels in export markets by including major performance drivers. The model incorporates conflict management strategies and combines commitment-trust theory with resource-based view (RBV) and knowledge-based view (KBV), an innovative combination with great explanatory potential. Based on the findings, there is sufficient support for using the suggested model as a new integrative behavioral model that explains channel relationships.

Practical implications: The results indicate that managers should use noncoercive power and cooperative conflict management strategies in order to positively affect relationship quality (i.e., communication, trust, and commitment), which in turn enhances cooperation and export performance.

Originality/value/contribution: The suggested research model presents a novel combination of existing relationship marketing (RM) knowledge with the limited IRM knowledge into a comprehensive IRM model. It includes new relationships beyond those studied before. Integrating and synthesizing results from a large body of conceptual and empirical literature led to the final model. Accordingly, it contributes elements of newness. First, the model includes major antecedents of performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive model of firms’ relationship with their international marketing channels in export markets. Second, there are almost no studies investigating conflict management strategies neither in RM nor in IRM models. Accordingly, a contribution of this research is incorporating conflict management strategies within the model and analyzing their effects.     

跨组织电子商务与企业间信任、承诺关系研究

跨组织电子商务的发展为合作企业带来诸多优势,并可能会影响到合作企业关系。将经典的关系变量(如信任、承诺和关系价值创造)与跨组织电子商务纳入到模型进行实证研究,结果表明,跨组织电子商务并没有对关系价值创造产生积极影响,而承诺会对跨组织电子商务使用产生积极影响,信任对于跨组织电子商务的使用是否产生影响并不明朗,同时信任和承诺对于关系价值创造的积极影响关系以及信任对于承诺的积极影响关系得到了验证。     

The Effects of Relationship Marketing on Share of Business: A Synthesis and Comparison of Models

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The article synthesizes the extensive empirical work on relationship marketing (RM) and compares the various conceptualizations to give a better understanding of the relational factors (i.e., characteristics of the business relationship) that improve a seller’s objective performance (i.e., share of business) in a business-to-business (B2B) services context. These conceptualizations, taken from the literature, link relational antecedents (i.e., communication, domain expertise, relational value, and mutual goals) to relational mediators (i.e., trust, satisfaction, commitment, relationship quality) to explore how they in turn affect a seller’s share of business.

Methodology/approach: All 4 models derived from the literature review were assessed using a dataset drawn from a survey of 948 client firm representatives of a Portuguese hotel chain in a B2B services context.

Findings: The best of the models in terms of model fit and prediction of share of business shows that only customer commitment directly drives a seller’s share of business, and simultaneous interrelated changes in customer trust and satisfaction, as well as customer perceptions of relational value, drive customer commitment, and so exert indirect effects on performance. The model that proposes that a seller’s performance is strengthened by simultaneous interrelated improvements in customer trust, satisfaction, and commitment (i.e., with these three mediators being conceptualized as a single, combined, higher-order mediator, termed relationship quality [RQ]) shows inferior fit. No combination of mediators (satisfaction, trust, or commitment) improves the seller’s objective performance over and above their individual effects (i.e., there are no synergistic effects).

Research implications: The literature review suggested four ways of modeling RM antecedents, mediators, and their effect on performance. Complex second-order constructs such as RQ lack explanatory power when predicting outcomes and mask the effects of individual relational mediators. Correct conceptualization is important, as conclusions vary drastically even with the same set of relational mediators and same dataset.

Practical implications: B2B service providers’ investments in RM will lead to improved share of business only if customer commitment is high or there is at least the potential to improve it. This requires an understanding of how valuable

the customer believes the relationship to be, and how the customer rates the relationship with the firm in terms of satisfaction and trust. A customer segmentation approach to relationship building and maintenance is advocated and detailed suggestions are put forward.

Originality/value/contribution: Apart from the work by Palmatier, the relationships between RM antecedents and mediators have not yet been examined simultaneously and findings are fragmented. The article provides a synthesis of this expansive literature. It contrasts different interplays between RM mediators, including their interrelationships as a higher-order construct, and explores possible synergy effects. Unlike previous work, this study focused on an objective measure of seller performance (i.e., share of business), whereas previous studies have tended to examine subjective measures, especially within the B2B context. Furthermore, four full models were assessed here, each of which included the antecedents to RM mediators and their links to objective performance.     

Effects of Dependence and Trust on Channel Satisfaction,Commitment and Cooperation

ABSTRACT

Although researchers in the area of channel behavior have examined issues of dependence and trust on satisfaction, commitment and cooperation independently, the joint effects of dependence and trust on the listed dependent variates have received little attention in the literature. This study seeks to fill that void via an experiment conducted in Singapore. Extending on the work of Andaleeb (1996), an experimental design to create treatment groups with differing levels of dependence and trust was used to establish the relationships between the dependent and independent constructs. Research results highlight the important mediating effect of trust on dependence in determining attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Specifically, all three dependent constructs were rated highly under conditions of high trust, regardless of the level of dependence, pointing to the overbearing influence of trust in shaping channel dynamics.     

Outcomes of advertiser–agency relationships

The form and the role of cooperation within advertising relationships is the focus of this research. The theory posits that trust, commitment and cooperation are the core of the relationship and that the agency’s performance and the advertiser’s willingness-to-paymore for the agency’s services are the outcomes. Cooperation is defined and tested as a higher-order construct with three facets: shared problem solving, information exchange and flexibility. Competing theories are presented: the shared-influence model and the sole-mediator model. The contrast between the models focuses on whether the influence of trust and commitment is: (1) entirely mediated through cooperation; (2) shared with cooperation; or (3) bypasses cooperation altogether. The results indicate that although cooperation has a strong influence on agency performance, both trust and commitment have direct and indirect (mediated through cooperation) influences on performance. This supports the shared-influence model. The results also indicate that cooperation can successfully be measured as a higher-order construct.     

Organizational Trust and Interfirm Cooperation: An Examination of Horizontal Versus Vertical Alliances

Over the past decade, trust has emerged as the central means of achieving cooperation in interorganizational relationships. Past empirical inquiries have largely focused on the role of trust within the context of vertical relations between channel members or service providers and their clients. Thus, little is known about the nature or the role of trust in horizontal relations. A number of interorganizational scholars suggest that the nature and the effect of behavioral norms such as trust may be widely different in horizontal versus vertical relationships. This study examines the effect of relationship form on organizational trust using data from a survey of 106 U.S. firms who have recently participated in either horizontal or vertical R&D alliances. The results of this survey indicate that participants in vertical alliances display higher levels of organizational trust than participants in horizontal alliances. In addition, while organizational trust enhances cooperation in vertical alliances, trust is unrelated to cooperation in horizontal alliances.     

Enhancing Export Performance for Business Markets: Effects of Interorganizational Relationships on Export Market Orientation (EMO)

Purpose: Drawing on the relationship marketing perspective, this study explores the effects of interorganizational relationship variables on export market orientation (EMO), in turn enhancing the export performance. Furthermore, firm internationalization was included as a moderator between export market-oriented behavior and export performance.

Methodology: The authors tested the hypotheses via a mail survey involving 235 exporting firms. LISREL and regression analysis were used to test the proposed model.

Findings: The results support the hypotheses, which posit that commitment, trust, and social interaction are positively related to EMO behavior, whereas power is negatively related to such behavior. Second, firm EMO behavior is positively related to export performance. Third, the degree of internationalization strengthens the effect of EMO on export performance.

Research implications: This study improves existing theoretical understanding by supporting the relationship marketing perspective and international channel research for performing export market-oriented behaviors.

Practical implications: The leverage of interorganizational relationships appears a solid strategy for performing export market-oriented behaviors. Exporters can focus not only on export market-oriented behaviors being performed but also on expansion to new markets.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the marketing and international business literature and provides insights to exporters by examining the relationships among interorganizational relationship variables, EMO, and export performance. This study also introduces the degree of internationalization from a contingency-based view and demonstrates that internationalization complements EMO, and thus facilitates export performance.     

人际关系、人际信任对企业间关系的影响——来自中国家电分销渠道的实证分析

边界管理人员是企业间关系营销的界面,不同企业的边界管理人员之间的人际关系和人际信任对企业间关系的发展具有重要影响。本研究通过选取代表性的关系变量,构建一个结构方程模型,以家电分销渠道中的分销商为样本来源,检验了企业间人际关系和人际信任对企业间关系的影响。     

Corporate image,loyalty, and commitment in the consumer travel industry

Abstract

This article examines the impact and interrelationship of corporate image, satisfaction, and commitment on customer loyalty in the travel industry. A corporate image–commitment–loyalty model was developed and tested. Partial least squares (PLS) was used to test the direct and indirect linkages between the four variables, and an alternative model was proposed. The tourism and travel industry is highly price sensitive and competitive with low levels of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is a valuable asset in highly competitive markets, and understanding factors affecting customer loyalty is important to travel agencies who are seeking ways to maintain a strong customer base. The results of a mail survey conducted in New Zealand indicate that corporate image has a positive significant influence on customer commitment and customer satisfaction. Affective commitment is the focal point in the relationship and contributed most in predicting customer loyalty. The influence of customer satisfaction, on the other hand, contributed a much smaller effect. The key implications for travel agencies are build strong emotional bonds with customers and improve corporate image through trust and service delivery.     

Job satisfaction and commitment in the entrepreneurial SME

In the current global corporate climate that surrounds us, firms would do well to encourage the talent and creativity of their employees to achieve success. This is achieved, not by giving priority to individual talent, but by optimizing the collective as a whole and with the firm’s activities based on teamwork and joint effort. Heads of organizations might benefit from creating a favorable context for the birth and growth of collective internal cooperation, which is understood to be the collective ability to create and innovate on the part of the team, the firm or the organization. Having contrasted our hypotheses through research on Spanish firms, we have concluded that job satisfaction and commitment to the team are factors that have a direct and positive effect on Internal Entrepreneurship.      

Trusting and Monitoring Business Partners throughout the Relationship Life Cycle

Purpose: The goal of this research is to understand the theoretical and empirical confluence of multi-dimensional trust with the role of monitoring as business partnerships unfold and evolve dynamically throughout the course of the relationship life cycle.

Methodology: A pilot study is run in which in-depth interviews are conducted with managers to glean their insights regarding the theoretical questions and to verify terminology for survey items. A large-scale survey study is then conducted to test hypotheses about the relationships among the focal constructs. The participants in both studies are real procurement professionals reporting on their primary supplier relationships. The qualitative study and the samples of real world managers enhance the external validity of this research.

Findings: In early stages of business relationships, monitoring and benevolence trust interact to positively impact business performance. Continued monitoring in later stages interact with benevolence trust to performance detriment. Conversely, monitoring and competence aspects of trust hurt business performance in earlier life stages.

Research Implications: Theoretical frameworks that include the constructs of multidimensional trust, monitoring, and relationship life cycle stages can build on the nuanced 3-dimensional contingencies established in this research. In particular, this research furthers the concepts of monitoring and the relationship life cycle.

Practical Implications: There is a time and a place to trust one's business partners, and a time and a place to verify their trustworthiness. As business partnerships are forged, monitoring and benevolence trust can be particularly fruitful.

Contribution: In this research, the authors build on the business marketing literature that has begun to delineate the benevolence and competence dimensions of trust in business relationships; they demonstrate the role that partner monitoring has in maintaining business commitments; and establish how these effects are modified over the stages of the relationship life cycle; i.e., from exploration, to build-up, maturity, and decline.     

Contractual Satisfaction: The Polish and Tanzanian Perspectives

Purpose: Interfirm satisfaction has been studied at the aggregate level, which has limited use in terms of understanding specific dimensions. Contractual satisfaction relates to the specific level of analyzing interfirm satisfaction. This study contributes towards understanding contractual satisfaction and the contextual nature of the concept. To achieve the latter, two heterogeneous emerging markets were used (Poland and Tanzania).

Methodology: The study was conducted in Poland and Tanzania, focusing on manufacturing firms. The sample included 201 Polish firms and 240 Tanzanian firms.

Findings: The major findings suggest that ex ante costs and ex post specifications have a significant positive effect on contractual satisfaction, with a stronger effect in Poland. Behavioral uncertainty has a significant moderating effect on these two constructs in Tanzania but not in Poland, whereas the moderating effect of trust is found to be significantly positive in Poland but negative in Tanzania.

Research Implications: The nature of markets and institutions has an influence on business to business relations.

Practical Implications: Contractual satisfaction is not homogeneous across markets; managers should pay attention to specific contextual factors such as institutions and the stage they are at in their transformation.

Originality: The study looks specifically at contractual satisfaction and extends the contractual governance literature by considering heterogeneous emerging markets.     

Trust and direct marketing environments: A consumer perspective

The desire to establish long‐term customer relationships has led companies to consider normative as well as outcome related aspects of relationship development. Much of the research undertaken in this field has focused upon such activity in business‐to‐business markets. The current study sought to examine these issues, from the consumer perspective, in relation to approaches made by firms using direct marketing techniques, specifically direct mail. Empirical assessment was made of a sample of consumers in relation to their receptivity to product and service offerings from firms, and the effects of commitment, trust and privacy concerns upon this receptivity. In conclusion, some implications for marketing practice in developing customer relationships in direct marketing environments are discussed.     

Commitment and Trust in Cross-National Channel Relationships

Abstract

Cross-national channel relationships are becoming increasingly important, so it is time for research in the channels literature to continue beyond a focus of channel relationships within a single country or channel design for market entry. The author presents a model of commitment in cross-national manufacturer-distributor relationshipsthat extends the commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing by incorporating four constructs conceptualized to represent the influence of a firm's current and prospective partners on the focal relationship: resource transferability-to partner; resource transferabil-ity-from partner; resource particularity-adaptation and resource particularity-consumption. Data collected from 143 U.S. manufacturers, 106 Mexican manufacturers, and 97 Mexican distributors show that the model generalizes across this national boundary. In particular, a similar influence of mutuality on trust and trust on commitment was observed for both manufacturers and distributors. The influence of resource transferability, particularity on the relationship, was also observed. The findings provide strong support for extending the commitment-trust theory to aid the study and management of cross-national channel relationships.