Product and relationship quality influence on customer commitment and loyalty in B2B manufacturing relationships

The article examines how product and relationship quality influence customer commitment along with their combined effect on customer loyalty. The results show that product quality influences positive and negative calculative commitment. With regard to relationship quality, its “social” dimensions such as cooperation and trust have a much greater influence on commitment than its “technical” dimensions such as knowledge transfers and adaptation. On the “social” side, cooperation and trust positively influence affective and normative commitment, with trust also positively affecting positive calculative commitment, while on the “technical” side the only significant link is between adaptation and normative commitment. As for the consequences of commitment, affective commitment positively influences attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, while negative calculative commitment positively influences behavioral loyalty. In addition to indirect effects, product quality also directly positively influences attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. The results imply that customer loyalty depends more on “emotional” (affective commitment) than on “rational” (negative calculative commitment and product quality) motivation to continue the relationship.     

Transfer of market knowledge in a channel relationship: Impacts of attitudinal commitment and satisfaction

This paper attempts to explain how a manufacturer's attitudinal commitment and a distributor's kind and degree of satisfaction have an impact on the transferring of market knowledge from the distributor in a channel relationship. Using data from 225 paired distributors and manufacturers in the Chinese household appliances entity, six of our seven research hypotheses were supported. Results of the study show that a distributor's economic satisfaction directly promotes market knowledge transfer, while a distributor's social satisfaction will enhance market knowledge transfer only when positive economic satisfaction already exists. Furthermore, both the calculative commitment and the loyalty commitment of a manufacturer have inverse U-shaped relationships with a distributor's economic satisfaction, and are negatively and positively related, respectively, to the distributor's social satisfaction. The study thus points out the distinct roles of economic satisfaction and social satisfaction and their interaction in market knowledge transfer, and the insightful impacts of calculative and loyalty commitment on economic and social satisfaction. These findings provide new theoretical thinking about channel relationship management and the business practices of manufacturers.     

价格促销与D＆B忠诚模式关联实证研究

顾客赢回管理概念模型包括价格促销策略，顾客感知（价格敏感、信任和情感），算计性承诺和顾客忠诚（真正忠诚、表面忠诚、潜在忠诚和不忠诚）等变量。研究目的是考查价格促销．算计性承诺和顾客忠诚之间的关系。研究数据来源于中国酒店行业（N=1074）。研究发现，价格促销导致顾客价格敏感，淡化了顾客对厂商的信任、情感等内在动机．并对顾客的忠诚形成有负面影响：研究揭示了价格促销策略使厂商陷入进退两难困境的深层次根源：研究对指导管理者采取恰当的赢回策略开展流失顾客的赢回管理具有借鉴和参考价值。     

Drivers of green cooperation between Chinese manufacturers and their customers: An empirical analysis

Although green customer cooperation can help manufacturers increase their overall performance, it is difficult for manufactures to effectively achieve green customer cooperation. This paper discusses how manufacturers can achieve green customer cooperation through the theoretical lens of capability-based view. It suggests that internal green process innovation and learning from their customers can lead to green customer cooperation and such positive relationships are dependent upon senior management's calculative and affective commitment towards the customer firms. Using multi-respondent data collected from 217 Chinese manufacturing firms, the results show that both green process innovation and learning from customers drive green customer cooperation. However, affective commitment counter-intuitively diminishes the positive effect of learning from customers on green customer cooperation, while calculative commitment further strengthens this effect. This paper contributes to green supply chain management literature by conceptually explaining and empirically proving the effects of green process innovation and learning from customers on green customer cooperation and the moderating role of calculative and affective commitments. Based on the research findings, the paper gives practical suggestions to Chinese manufacturers and their customer firms regarding green cooperation and the dynamics of senior management's commitment towards the customer firms.     

顾客满意与企业效益

介绍了顾客满意研究的基本内容，分析了顾客满意与顾客心理、顾客满意与顾客忠诚以及顾客忠诚与企业利润之间的关系，特别强调，企业在实施顾客满意管理时应综合考虑顾客心理、忠诚度、利润、经营策略等因素才能实现企业的战略目标。     

Is perceived value more than value for money in professional business services?

It is well documented in the literature that customer perceived value plays an important role in understanding behavioral outcomes of business customers. However, most business-to-business research has focused on the functional dimension of perceived value, while consumer research has already advanced to a multidimensional value conceptualization. This study expands the concept of perceived value in the professional business services context to functional, emotional, and social perceived value. Based on signaling theory, we conceptualize and empirically support links between the three dimensions of perceived value and its antecedents (perceived corporate reputation, perceived corporate credibility, and perceived relationship quality) and outcomes (satisfaction and loyalty). The results of a survey involving 228 business clients reveal differences in links between value antecedents and the three perceived value dimensions: while perceived corporate credibility and relationship quality impact all dimensions, perceived corporate reputation impacts only perceived emotional value. Results of our study help in understanding how satisfaction and loyalty are viewed as perceived value outcomes; apart from functional value, emotional and social values play a significant role in the satisfaction and loyalty of professional business services clients.     

The performance implications of power–trust relationship: The moderating role of commitment in the supplier–retailer relationship

The current research examines how coercive power and non-coercive power affect trust and how these relationships are affected by affective and calculative commitment. It also expands the understanding of the role of an under-researched dimension of performance, i.e., strategic performance, and studies it as a mediating variable in the relationship between trust and financial performance. The proposed model is empirically tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) in supplier–retailer channel in Taiwan. The findings reveal that affective commitment has a positive moderating effect on the negative relationship between coercive power and trust, while calculative commitment has a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between non-coercive power and trust. The results also indicate that strategic performance partially mediates the effect of trust on financial performance. The research advances theoretical understanding on the complex power–trust relationship and provides insights into the role of commitment in both enabling and undermining channel relationships. The findings highlight the importance of building affective commitment in channel relationships and the critical role of strategic performance in the trust–financial performance relationship.     

Governance mechanisms in domestic and international buyer–supplier relationships: An empirical study

Governance mechanisms are a key element of business relationships. However, little is known about the possible differences between their uses in domestic versus international business relationships. Drawing on empirical data, we investigate three issues. First, we compare the use of five governance mechanisms (contracts, value-creating norms, value-claiming norms, specific investments, and trust) in purely domestic relationships as opposed to relationships with an international component. We also investigate whether customer satisfaction and commitment differ in these two settings. Second, we extend the model of Palmatier, Dant, and Grewal (2007) by adding two distinct types of governance norms—value-claiming norms and value-creating norms—and analyze the interrelationship between the five governance mechanisms as well as their impacts on business customer satisfaction and commitment. Finally, we analyze the moderating role of internationality on relationships between governance mechanisms and customer commitment. Data from a survey of 296 companies support most of the hypothesized relationships.     

Managing opportunism in a developing interfirm relationship: The interrelationship of calculative and loyalty commitment

This research develops a framework for investigating associations among the duration of an exchange relationship, the interrelationship between a supplier's calculative and loyalty commitment, and opportunistic behavior on the part of a buyer. The findings indicate that (1) calculative commitment and loyalty commitment by suppliers function as substitutes; (2) a supplier's loyalty commitment increases gradually as a developing exchange relationship endures, whereas calculative commitment increases and then decreases; and (3) a supplier's calculative commitment leads to an increase in a buyer's opportunism, whereas the supplier's loyalty commitment leads to a decrease, and a supplier's loyalty commitment decreases the positive impact of calculative commitment on opportunism. These findings provide insights into how relationship duration affects buyers' opportunism through the interrelation between suppliers' calculative and loyalty commitment.     

Understanding the role of service innovation behavior on business customer performance and loyalty

Providing new services to customers gives firms a competitive advantage in the market. Consequently, firms strive to develop innovative service that delivers new value propositions to customers and leads to customer satisfaction and the acquisition of new customers. The authors investigate the relationship between the innovative behavior of service providers, business customer performance, and business customer loyalty in the safety industry. The study's results show that technology-oriented and co-creation-oriented innovative behavior leads to business customer performance. Business customer performance is closely related to recommendations and re-contracts. Moreover, the degree of safety involvement has a moderate effect between service innovation and business customer performance. The findings have important theoretical and managerial implications for service innovation for researchers as well as service providers.     

Sharing is the name of the game: Exploring the role of social media communication practices on B2B customer relationships in the life sciences industry

The inclusion of social media as a communication channel in a vendor's B2B digital marketing strategy is growing in importance. Understanding the effect of such practices upon customer relationships is crucial for firms as they increasingly engage in this way. This paper presents and tests a model that explores the effect of vendor social media communication practices upon trust and loyalty in B2B customer relationships. A study using quantitative data from 196 business customers of a United States life sciences firm is reported. The model indicates that trust and loyalty are influenced by a) the social media shared beliefs between the vendor and the customer; b) the nature of the vendor's social media communication with the customer; and c) the extent to which the vendor's social media communication practices enable effective customer-to-customer communication. Trust is found to have a mediating role between these indicators and loyalty. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Industrial brand value and relationship performance in business markets — A general structural equation model

This paper develops a general model of industrial brand value and relationship performance in business-to-business markets from the perspectives of consumer and industrial marketing literature. The structural equation model integrates the analysis of industrial brand value and relationship performance. The model describes the extent to which supplier-buyer transaction performance is influenced by the eight important factors: supplier competence, purchasing value, customer satisfaction, switching cost, brand trust and loyalty, relationship quality, commitment, and transactional performance.The general model is applied to organizational buyer groups of comprehensive industrial markets (Electronics, Chemicals, Equipment, etc). The analysis finds that supplier competence directly affects purchasing value and customer satisfaction, and via purchasing value and customer satisfaction, it indirectly affects commitment, switching cost, brand trust and loyalty. The managerial implications of the study results are also discussed.     

The effects of manufacturer's organizational learning on distributor satisfaction and loyalty in industrial markets

The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of organizational learning (OL) on satisfaction and loyalty in industrial markets. A conceptual model, in which the unit for analysis is the dyadic relationship between manufacturers and their main distributor, is proposed and tested. The empirical results showed that the manufacturer's OL is an antecedent of the relational outcomes achieved in business relationships. Specifically, increased OL in the manufacturer has a direct effect on the main distributor's degree of satisfaction and an indirect effect on his loyalty. It is also confirmed that the manufacturer's OL has a direct effect on the manufacturer's business performance. However, we found that links between OL and satisfaction and OL and loyalty are not changed by market turbulence.     

Functional,emotional, and social benefits of new B2B services

While marketing literature has defined the benefits concept broadly, there is limited empirical research clarifying what benefits constitute and how they contribute to customer satisfaction in the B2B service context. Benefits have typically been characterized as falling under a single, all-encompassing concept, but emerging thinking views them as multi-dimensional, including functional, emotional and social benefits. This research examines whether this demarcation applies in the B2B services context, and if so, how these three types of benefits are related with customer satisfaction. Based on a survey of 335 customers of recently launched B2B services, the demarcation of these three types of benefits appears warranted and each type of benefit exhibits a different pattern of relationship with customer satisfaction. Functional benefits are found to be positively related with customer satisfaction, while emotional benefits and social benefits exhibit non-linear relationships. Emotional benefits have a diminishing effect on customer satisfaction as they increase and social benefits reach a plateau after a threshold point. These results suggest that recognizing the three types of benefits and the different shapes of their relationships with customer satisfaction can result in effective strategies for driving customer satisfaction when innovating new B2B services. Managerial and research implications are discussed.     

Relationship factors and firms' willingness-to-pay: A comparison of east-west settings

The aim of this study is to examine the underlying mechanism that explains the effects of supplier firms' sustained competitive advantage (SCA) on customer firms' willingness-to-pay a price premium (WTP) across Eastern and Western settings. Drawing upon the relationship marketing (RM) paradigm, we posit that SCA influences WTP via calculative commitment and relationship quality (RQ). A survey involving executives from Australian (n = 336) and Chinese (n = 360) firms was conducted to test the theoretical model. The findings reveal that the effect of SCA on WTP is mediated by RQ and calculative commitment among Chinese firms. Among Australian firms, however, the effect of SCA on WTP is mediated only by RQ and not calculative commitment. The study contributes to the literature by distinguishing the role of ‘rational’ (i.e., calculative commitment) and ‘emotional’ (i.e., affective commitment and RQ) relationship factors in influencing WTP, and by validating a multidimensional RQ model that is applicable to culturally diverse contexts. To marketing practitioners, this research helps to identify the conditions under which RM practices can be effective for B2B firms that operate across diverse cultures.     

Relationship-specific investments,social capital,and performance: The case of Korean exporter/foreign buyer relations

Relationship-specific investments are addressed as crucial factors for the successful management of the exporter–foreign buyer relationships. It is hypothesized that relationship-specific investments have a positive impact on social capital components such as trust and commitment, which in turn contribute to the relationship and business performance satisfaction between partners. On the basis of our analysis of the relationships between Korean exporters and their foreign buyers, the validity of the roles of relationship-specific investments and social capital are clearly demonstrated. The results provide us with a meaningful implication to the successful management of inter-firm relationships.     

The changing importance of affective trust and cognitive trust across the relationship lifecycle: A study of business-to-business relationships

The purpose of this paper is to examine affective trust and cognitive trust and their effects on business relationship outcomes. Within a relationship marketing framework, the influence of affective trust and cognitive trust on the success of business relationships at the early and mature phases of the relationship lifecycle is examined. Both affective and cognitive forms of trust are demonstrated to be multidimensional constructs that indirectly influence relationship performance via the mediating variables commitment and liking.The development and use of five elements of trust to explain relationship performance extends existing understanding of relationship marketing. By combining five elements of trust (three cognitive and two affective) and testing them in two different relationship lifecycle phases, insights are generated into how a relationship can succeed. The model tested in this paper highlights the importance of affective trust in the early phase and cognitive trust in the mature phase of the relationship lifecycle. Further, the mediating roles of commitment and liking between trust and relationship performance are also developed. Hence, the research increases understanding of how relationships evolve, in particular the role of affective trust and cognitive trust in influencing relationship performance.The context of this research is business-to-business relationships in small and medium enterprises. A survey of 458 businesses people is used to evaluate both the early and mature relationship lifecycle phases. The data are analysed with structural equation modelling where the basic structural model testing is extended with multigroup analysis.     

Commitment to technological change,sales force intelligence norms,and salesperson key outcomes

Despite increasing interest in sales technology investments, companies continue to struggle with getting their salespeople to use these expensive technologies. In this context, two under-researched issues warrant attention. First, although sales technology represents a continuous source of change, little is known about why salespeople commit to technology-induced changes. Second, knowledge on whether sales force intelligence norms play a role into translating use of sales technology to performance gains is remarkably sparse. To address these gaps, this study develops a conceptual framework that explores the linear and non-linear effects of commitment to technological change (i.e., affective, normative, and continuance) on sales technology infusion, and, in turn, on two key outcomes (i.e., customer-oriented selling and sales performance). Our framework also advances knowledge on how sales force intelligence norms (i.e., analytical sales processes and knowledge sharing with customers) moderate the relationships between sales technology infusion and key outcomes. Analysis is done using multilevel structural equation modeling on a sample of 303 salespeople nested within 22 firms. Findings support the view that the three components of commitment are distinct, with some counter-intuitive results. Specifically, affective commitment does not exert a significant positive influence as expected; yet, normative commitment does. In contrast, while lower levels of continuance commitment reduce infusion, higher levels have positive effects, thus depicting a U-shaped effect. Finally, sales technology infusion influences both key outcomes — and findings support the importance of fostering sales force intelligence norms. Implications of the study are discussed.     

A rolling stone gathers no moss: the effect of customers' perceived business model innovativeness on customer value co‐creation behavior and customer satisfaction in the service sector

Both researchers and practitioners have been focusing extensively on business model innovation, as it has shown to positively influence business performance. Although the effect of business model innovativeness on customer behavior might be an important mediator between business model innovation and business performance, it has not yet been analyzed. In line with recent calls to consider the customer side in business model innovation research, our paper addresses this problem by studying the influence of customers' perceived business model innovativeness (CPBMI) on customer satisfaction and customer value co‐creation behavior in the service sector. We, therefore, emphasize customers' perceptions and reactions to business model changes. Relying on data from a large‐scale survey of restaurant customers, we find that perceived value creation innovativeness and value proposition innovativeness positively affect customer satisfaction and customer value co‐creation behavior. In addition, we identify a significant indirect effect of CPBMI on customer satisfaction via customer value co‐creation behavior. Our findings allow deriving concrete implications for both researchers and practitioners.     

A knowledge-enabled procedure for customer relationship management

The value of knowledge management and customer relationship management is well recognized by many leading companies. This study presents a proposed model of Knowledge-enabled Customer Relationship Management and demonstrates the way in which the presented model can facilitate the identification of important factors that have key impacts on business performance in particular settings. The results show that employees in the steel industry indicate that to provide product and service information for customers and to share internally the best practice information can have benefits for hard measures such as market share, repeat purchases, and customer retention and for soft measures such as customer satisfaction, market leadership and customer loyalty. Employees in the textile industry report that to provide customer complaint information of customers and to share internally the best practice information can have benefits for hard measures such as customer retention, cost savings, and market share and for soft measures such as customer satisfaction, market leadership, customer loyalty, and customer and employee productivity.