REEXAMINING RELATIONSHIP MARKETING IN SERVICE CONTEXT: THE ROLE OF CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARD RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

Yaou Hu

Relationship marketing has become a common practice in service context. Although the benefits of relationship marketing for both businesses and customers have been widely acknowledged, little is known about customers’ specific attitudes toward relationship marketing practices. Arguing that research on service relationship marketing needs to be built on an understanding of customer’s attitudes towards building a relationship with the service provider, this research aims to investigate the nature of customer’s attitudes towards relationship marketing and develop a multi-dimensional measurement scale in service context. Further, this research aims to examine the effects of customers’ attitudes on customers’ behaviors in various service encounters. By developing and validating the measurement of different dimensions of customers’ attitudes toward relationship marketing in service contexts, this research makes a critical contribution to relationship marketing literature. Findings of this research suggest three types of customers’ attitudes toward service relationship marketing (i.e., emotional, utilitarian, and oppositional attitudes) and confirms that relationship marketing is not an appropriate strategy with all customers. This research also addresses the inconsistencies in existing research with regard to the effectiveness of relationship marketing investment, revealing that individuals who hold different attitudes toward relationship marketing have different perceptions of relationship quality and commitment, and as a consequence, different levels of behavioral loyalty to service providers’ relationship investment efforts. This research also adds to the service failure literature by demonstrating the formation mechanism of customers’ perceptions and evaluations of the service provider (i.e., perceived greed and perceived incompetence) after a service failure with the inclusion of customers’ attitudes toward service relationship marketing. Individuals vary in their attitude toward service relationship marketing, and their particular attitude correspondingly could affect their perceptions after a service failure and their following behaviors. This research contributes to service relationship marketing literature by providing an individual difference perspective to understand customers’ behaviors. It also provides practical implications for service companies by suggesting that service providers should identify customers’ attitudes toward relationship marketing and thus provide targeted relationship development and maintaining efforts, as well as provide various adaptive services for customers holding different attitudes toward relationship marketing in specific service encounters.

REEXAMINING RELATIONSHIP MARKETING IN SERVICE CONTEXT: THE ROLE OF CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARD RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

Files and links (1)

Abstract

Metrics

Details