Analysing relationship quality and its contribution to costumer relationship proneness

Abstract

Relationship Marketing has emerged as one of the dominant paradigms in the sphere of marketing in recent decades. However, aspects such as globalization, the development of information technologies, or pressure from growing global competitiveness have brought about changes in the way firms approach relationship management with consumers. The modern consumer demands personalized treatment that is customized to individual needs and specific characteristics. In this context, relationship quality (RQ) allows firms to understand the proneness of consumers to keeping their commercial relations alive. This study adopts a comprehensive management approach that includes the resources and capabilities that firms possess in order to enhance RQ and analyzes the effect of a series of elements inherent to business management (market orientation, knowledge management and resources assigned to maintaining the relationship) on the quality of relationships as perceived by the consumer. We analyze the effect of perceived quality on the consumer’s willingness to maintain the relationship, providing a starting point for examining related aspects such as purchase repetition. The study uses PLS to analyze data from a sample of consumers in the banking sector to test the hypotheses posited in our conceptual model and enrich the discussion on the consequences for management practices.