Relational contract norms and the effectiveness of commercial banking relationships

Bases the present study, on Macneil’s relational contract theory and illustrates the conceptual and managerial importance of relational norms in a business‐to‐business service context. Demonstrates a clear link between the client’s perception of the strength of the bank‐client relationship, as measured by relational norms, and the client’s intention to continue to purchase financial services and to purchase new financial services, willingness to recommend both the account manager and the bank to business colleagues and, assessment of satisfaction and judgement of service quality. Finds significant differences between the assessment of the strength of the relationship by account managers and client‐company representatives; these differences would have important managerial implications in the context of commercial banking.

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