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Keywords Channel relationships, Service levels, Servicing, Customer relations, Business-to-business marketing
Abstract Although relationship quality is recognized as a central construct in the relationship marketing literature, relatively little attention has been paid to the issues of: the dimensions of relationship quality, and the directional relationship between relationship quality and related service evaluation outcomes. This study seeks to provide alternative conceptualization of business-to-business relationship quality based on the well-established IMP interaction model and to clarify the relationship between relationship quality and service quality. The findings from an empirical study, support the hypothesis that relationship quality, defined as a higher-order construct of cooperation, adaptation, and atmosphere, has a positive impact on service quality.
Introduction
The limitations of the discrete-transaction paradigm in marketing have been recognised for some time and the shift from a transaction-based to a relationship-based marketing paradigm (e.g. Grönroos, 1989; Möller and Wilson, 1988) has been well documented in a range of contexts. Crosby et al. (1990) stress that relationship marketing is critical when the service is complex, customized, delivered over a continuous stream of transactions, and involves many relatively unsophisticated buyers. They further suggest that the quality of the relationship determines the probability of continued exchange between buyers and sellers. Equally, Smith (1998a) has argued that relationship quality is a central construct in the relationship marketing literature. However, despite such claims, relationship quality as an area for research (both conceptual and empirical) has lagged far behind the more popular topics of service quality and product quality. As Naudé and Buttle (2000) note, within the rapidly expanding literature of business-to-business marketing, supply-chain management, relationship marketing, and customer relationship management, there is remarkably little attention paid to the issue of relationship quality.
Following the pioneering study of relationship quality by Crosby et al. (1990), two major issues remain unresolved. The first issue is related to a lack of consensus about the dimensions of relationship quality. For example, in their study of consumer-based relationship quality, Crosby et al. (1990) suggest trust in the salesperson and satisfaction with the salesperson, whereas Naudé and Buttle (2000) suggest trusts, needs, integration, and profit as important dimensions of business-to-business relationship quality. The second issue concerns the directional link between relationship quality and service quality (and other related service outcomes). For example,...