The antecedents and consequences of organizational and personal commitment in business service relationships

Abstract This paper explores the potential for business service customers to form separate bonds of commitment with the service firm and the service representative. It examines the role of the individual and identifies six potential antecedents to each type of commitment. It also proposes that both types of commitment will influence the degree of relational exchange between the customer and the service firm. The hypotheses are tested using multiple regression and data from a survey of marketing research managers. The results support the majority of the hypotheses.

[1]  J. Sheth,et al.  Relationship marketing: An agenda for inquiry , 1997 .

[2]  Arun Pereira,et al.  Relationships Between Businesses and Marketing Research Firms: Impact of Partnering on Performance , 1997 .

[3]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Building service relationships: It’s all about promises , 1995 .

[4]  James A. Narus,et al.  A Model of the Distributor's Perspective of Distributor-Manufacturer Working Relationships , 1984 .

[5]  J. P. Peter.  Reliability: A Review of Psychometric Basics and Recent Marketing Practices , 1979 .

[6]  Blake E. Ashforth,et al.  Defensive Behavior in Organizations: A Preliminary Model , 1990 .

[7]  木下 毅.  Ian R.Macneil:The New Social Contract--An Inquiry into Modern Contractual Relations,1980 , 1985 .

[8]  James R. Brown,et al.  Interdependency, Contracting, and Relational Behavior in Marketing Channels: , 1996 .

[9]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[10]  John R. Nevin,et al.  Performance Outcomes of Purchasing Arrangements in Industrial Buyer-Vendor Relationships , 1990 .

[11]  M. Goldstein,et al.  Multivariate Analysis: Methods and Applications , 1984 .

[12]  F. Dwyer,et al.  Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships: , 1987 .

[13]  P. Bentler,et al.  Comparative fit indexes in structural models. , 1990, Psychological bulletin.

[14]  Dale E. Zand.  Trust and Managerial Problem Solving , 1972 .

[15]  D. Dillman.  Mail and internet surveys: The tailored design method, 2nd ed. , 2007 .

[16]  James Reardon,et al.  A Comparison of Alternative Theories of Services Marketing , 1996 .

[17]  Gilbert A. Churchill.  A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs , 1979 .

[18]  Thomas Tellefsen.  Commitment in business-to-business relationships , 2002 .

[19]  J. Steenkamp,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of Satisfaction in Marketing Channel Relationships , 1999 .

[20]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research , 1985 .

[21]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: Implications , 1994 .

[22]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[23]  John A. Czepiel,et al.  A role theory perspective on dyadic interactions: The service encounter. , 1985 .

[24]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Determinants of Continuity in Conventional Industrial Channel Dyads , 1989 .

[25]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[26]  L. Crocker,et al.  Introduction to Classical and Modern Test Theory , 1986 .

[27]  Björn Wootz,et al.  A framework of industrial buying and selling , 1979 .

[28]  R. Emerson.  Power-Dependence Relations , 1962, Power in Modern Societies.

[29]  Joseph P. Cannon,et al.  An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer–Seller Relationships: , 1997 .

[30]  Thomas Tellefsen,et al.  Outsourcing: The Hidden Costs , 2001 .

[31]  Morton Deutschi.  The Effect of Motivational Orientation upon Trust and Suspicion , 1960 .

[32]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Personal selling and sales management: A relationship marketing perspective , 1999 .

[33]  Jozée Lapierre,et al.  Managing business-to-business marketing relationships in consulting engineering firms , 1997 .

[34]  L. Berry.  Relationship marketing of services—growing interest, emerging perspectives , 1995 .

[35]  L. Berry.  BIG IDEAS IN SERVICES MARKETING , 1986 .

[36]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. , 1977 .

[37]  P. Dion,et al.  The Determinants of Commitment in the Distributor–Manufacturer Relationship , 2001 .

[38]  S. Chatterjee,et al.  Regression Analysis by Example , 1979 .

[39]  Michael D. Huft,et al.  Cross-Functional Working Relationships in Marketing , 1995 .

[40]  Valerie Will,et al.  Assessing the quality of service provided by market research agencies , 2000 .

[41]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  The Use of Pledges to Build and Sustain Commitment in , 1992 .

[42]  James A. Narus,et al.  A Model of Distributor Firm and Manufacturer Firm Working Partnerships , 1990 .

[43]  Linda L. Price,et al.  Commercial Friendships: Service Provider--Client Relationships in Context , 1999 .

[44]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Critical Service Encounters: The Employee's Viewpoint , 1994 .

[45]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: User's Reference Guide , 1997 .

[46]  James C. Anderson.  Relationships in business markets: Exchange episodes, value creation, and their empirical assessment , 1995 .

[47]  S. Andaleeb.  An experimental investigation of satisfaction and commitment in marketing channels: The role of trust and dependence , 1996 .

[48]  John A. Czepiel.  Service encounters and service relationships: Implications for research , 1990 .

[49]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Technology infusion in service encounters , 2000 .

[50]  B. A. Matthews,et al.  Expansion of Exchange , 1979 .

[51]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Factors affecting trust in market research relationships. , 1993 .

[52]  George Strauss,et al.  Tactics of lateral relationship : the purchasing agent , 1962 .

[53]  Arun Sharma,et al.  Antecedents and Consequences of Relationship Marketing , 1999 .

[54]  G. L. Shostack.  Designing Services That Deliver , 1996 .

[55]  Gilbert A. Churchill,et al.  The determinants of salesperson performance: A meta-analysis. , 1985 .

[56]  J. David Lichtenthal.  Channel Power in Business Markets , 1991 .

[57]  J. Bettman,et al.  Knowledge Structure Differences between More Effective and Less Effective Salespeople , 1988 .

[58]  J. E. Swan,et al.  How industrial salespeople gain customer trust , 1985 .

[59]  D. Morgan,et al.  Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis. , 1983 .

[60]  C. Grönroos.  Marketing services: the case of a missing product , 1998 .

[61]  Rajesh Sethi,et al.  The role of interpersonal liking in building trust in long-term channel relationships , 2001 .

[62]  Shankar Ganesan.  Determinants of Long-Term Orientation in Buyer-Seller Relationships , 1994 .

[63]  Peter M. Bentler,et al.  Practical Issues in Structural Modeling , 1987 .

[64]  Robert P. Leone,et al.  Managing Business-to-Business Customer Relationships following Key Contact Employee Turnover in a Vendor Firm , 2002 .

[65]  David T. Wilson.  An integrated model of buyer-seller relationships , 1995 .

[66]  G. Dowling.  Searching for a New Advertising Agency: A Client Perspective , 1994 .

[67]  L. Berry,et al.  Understanding Service Convenience , 2002 .

[68]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An integrative model of organizational trust, Academy of Management Review, : . , 1995 .

[69]  Gary L. Frazier.  Organizing and managing channels of distribution , 1999 .

[70]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing , 1985 .

[71]  E. Ziegel,et al.  Basic Principles of Structural Equation Modelling , 1996 .

[72]  Douglas W. LaBahn,et al.  Maintaining Client Commitment in Advertising Agency–Client Relationships , 1997 .

[73]  S. Auty,et al.  “Tribal warfare” and gaps affecting internal service quality , 1999 .

[74]  I. P. Akaah.  Organizational culture and ethical research behavior , 1993 .

[75]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[76]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Relationships between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust within and between Organizations , 1992 .

[77]  Ian R. Macneil.  The new social contract: An inquiry into modern contractual relations , 1980 .