The Role of Customers’ Relationship Orientation in Perceiving Relational Benefits

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D Candidate., Department of Business Management, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.

2 Assistant Prof., Department of Business Management, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.

3 Associate Prof., Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Tabriz. Tabriz, Iran.

4 Associate Prof., Department of Industrial Management, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Objective: According to the relationship benefits approach, companies are required to provide relationship benefits to the customers in order to build and maintain the relationships, which is costly and time consuming in practice. But, the main question is whether the customers whose level of relationship is different from the others can perceive the benefits of the relationship equally or their perceived benefits of the relationship are different depending on the degree of their relationships? If so, can the Customer Relationship Index be used to classify the customers in order to increase the effectiveness of the relationship benefit programs? How do the different types of perceived relationship benefits change by the changes in the relationships? Therefore, the purpose of this study is to answer these proposed questions.
 
Methodology: The present descriptive research is applied in nature. The statistical population of this study included the customers of the services and the samples were selected using non-probability and available sampling method. 543 individuals were surveyed using electronic questionnaires. The validity of the instruments was confirmed by three methods of content validity, convergent validity, and divergent validity; the reliability of the questionnaires was also confirmed using Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, and the mean of the explained variance. Structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis were performed through AMOS software and the research hypotheses were tested using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS software. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index and the Bartlett’s test were used to ensure the adequacy of the data for factor analysis.
 
Findings: The results of the analysis of the hypotheses based on ANOVA showed that the four types of relationship benefits are not the same at different levels of customer relationship orientation and the differences are statistically significant. Accordingly, the differences in the customers’ perception of trust benefits at a significant level of 0.05 as well as in their perception of social benefits, particular behavior benefits, and respect benefits at a significant level of 0.001 have been confirmed.
 
Conclusion: Perceived trust benefits may vary depending on the degree of customer relationship orientation, and the differences between the customers’ low, medium, and high relationship orientation is statistically significant. The results also showed that the customers with high relationship orientation perceive trust benefits more than the other customers. On the other hand, the results showed that social benefits have the most changes compared to other types of relationship benefits in these three groups of the customers with low, medium, and high relationship orientation. The reason for these drastic changes may be due to the fact that receiving services requires social interactions between the sellers and the buyers. In addition, the results showed that the benefits of particular behaviors have the second highest changes among the respective customers. Since the benefits of particular behaviors include discounts and lower prices for the customers, they can be very costly for the company if they are not effective. On the other hand, offering special benefits to a customer can lead to a sense of discrimination among other customers, which in turn can damage the reputation of the company. Finally, the results indicated that the benefits of respect in all the three groups of customers with low, medium, and high relationship orientation were higher compared to the social benefits and the benefits of particular behaviors. Customers with high relationship orientation perceive the benefits of respect more than the other types of benefit, which shows the importance of respect for service customers in Iran.

Keywords


Aali, S., Ibrahimi, A., Aslanpour Alamdari, N. (2019). Analysis of Customer Engagement in Creating Value at Different Stages of the Relationship Life Cycle. Journal of Business Management, 11(1), 105-124. (in Persian)
Agag, G. (2019). E-commerce ethics and its impact on buyer repurchase intentions and loyalty: An empirical study of small and medium Egyptian businesses. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(2), 389-410.
Arablooye Moghaddam, S., Esfidani, M., Aghazade, H., Zandipour, T. (2018). Identifying and Investigating Types of Consumer Relationships with Brand Communities on Instagram. Journal of Business Management, 10(3), 529-546. (in Persian)
Bagozzi, R. P., & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 16(1), 74-94.
Bendapudi, N., & Berry, L. L. (1997). Customers' motivations for maintaining relationships with service providers. Journal of retailing, 73(1), 15-37.
Bentler, P. M. (2006). EQS 6 structural equations program manual: Multivariate software Encino, CA.
Berry, L. L. (1983). Relationship marketing. Emerging perspectives on services marketing, 66(3), 33-47.
Berry, L.L. (1995). Relationship marketing of services-growing interest, emerging perspectives. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 23(4), 236-245.
Brown, J. R., Crosno, J. L., & Tong, P. Y. (2019). Is the theory of trust and commitment in marketing relationships incomplete? Industrial Marketing Management, 77, 155-169.
Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: basic concepts, applications, and programming (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Camarero, C., Garrido, M.-J., Vicente, E., & Redondo, M. (2019). Relationship marketing in museums: influence of managers and mode of governance. Public Management Review, 21(10), 1369-1396.
Cannon, J. P., & Perreault Jr, W. D. (1999). Buyer–seller relationships in business markets. Journal of marketing research, 36(4), 439-460.
Cao, Y., & Gruca, T. S. (2005). Reducing adverse selection through customer relationship management. Journal of marketing, 69(4), 219-229.
Chang, H.-H., & Lu, L.-C. (2019). Actively persuading consumers to enact ethical behaviors in retailing: The influence of relational benefits and corporate associates. Journal of Business Ethics, 156(2), 399-416.
Chang, S., Zhang, Z., Wang, X., & Dong, Y. (2020). Optimal acquisition and retention strategies in a duopoly model of competition. European Journal of Operational Research, 282(2), 677-695.
Chang, Y.-H., & Chen, F.-Y. (2007). Relational benefits, switching barriers and loyalty: A study of airline customers in Taiwan. Journal of Air transport management, 13(2), 104-109.
Chaudhuri, M., Voorhees, C. M., & Beck, J. M. (2019). The effects of loyalty program introduction and design on short-and long-term sales and gross profits. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 47(4), 640-658.
Chou, S., & Chen, C.-W. (2018). The influences of relational benefits on repurchase intention in service contexts: the roles of gratitude, trust and commitment. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 33(5), 680-692.
Dagger, T. S., David, M. E., & Ng, S. (2011). Do relationship benefits and maintenance drive commitment and loyalty? Journal of Services Marketing, 25(4), 273-281.
De Wulf, K., Odekerken-Schröder, G., & Iacobucci, D. (2001). Investments in consumer relationships: a cross-country and cross-industry exploration. Journal of marketing, 65(4), 33-50.
Ebrahimy, H., Aali, S. (2016). Effects of relationship quality on Customer behavioral responses at different stages of the customer relationship life cycle: case study of Tabriz Kheshavarzy Bank. Journal of Business Management, 8(3), 503-528. (in Persian)
Eggert, A., Steinhoff, L., & Witte, C. (2019). Gift Purchases as Catalysts for Strengthening Customer–Brand Relationships. Journal of marketing, 83(5), 115-132.
Fatima, J. K., Mascio, R. D., & Johns, R. (2018). Impact of relational benefits on trust in the Asian context: Alternative model testing with satisfaction as a mediator and relationship age as a moderator. Psychology & Marketing, 35(6), 443-453.
Field, A. (2005). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics: sage.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of marketing research, 18(1), 39-50.
Franklin, D., & Marshall, R. (2019). Adding co-creation as an antecedent condition leading to trust in business-to-business relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 77, 170-181.
Grönroos, C. (1996). Relationship marketing: strategic and tactical implications. Management decision, 34(3), 5-14.
Gwinner, K. P., Gremler, D. D., & Bitner, M. J. (1998). Relational benefits in services industries: the customer’s perspective. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 26(2), 101-114.
Heide, J.B. (1994). Interorganizational governance in marketing channels. Journal of marketing, 58(1), 71-85.
Hemonnet‐Goujot, A., Manceau, D., & Abecassis‐Moedas, C. (2019). Drivers and Pathways of NPD Success in the Marketing–External Design Relationship. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 36(2), 196-223.
Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K. P., & Gremler, D. D. (2002). Understanding relationship marketing outcomes: an integration of relational benefits and relationship quality. Journal of service research, 4(3), 230-247.
Hu, M., & Chaudhry, S. S. (2020). Enhancing consumer engagement in e-commerce live streaming via relational bonds. Internet Research.
Kinard, B. R., & Capella, M. L. (2006). Relationship marketing: the influence of consumer involvement on perceived service benefits. Journal of Services Marketing, 20(6), 359-368.
Kline, R. B. (2015). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling: Guilford publications.
Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago and London.
Lacey, A. (2002). Dictionary of philosophy: Routledge.
Lawrence, J. M., Crecelius, A. T., Scheer, L. K., & Lam, S. K. (2019). When it pays to have a friend on the inside: contingent effects of buyer advocacy on B2B suppliers. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 47(5), 837-857.
Lee, M. A., Kunkel, T., Funk, D. C., Karg, A., & McDonald, H. (2019). Built to last: relationship quality management for season ticket holders. European Sport Management Quarterly, 20(3), 364-384.
Makkonen, H., Saarikorpi, M., & Rajala, R. (2019). A transition from goods-dominant to service-dominant exchange logic in a B2B relationship: A relationship positioning perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, 65-77.
Mangus, S. M., Jones, E., Folse, J. A. G., & Sridhar, S. (2020). The interplay between business and personal trust on relationship performance in conditions of market turbulence. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 48, 138–1155.
Morgan, R. M., & Hunt, S. D. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of marketing, 58(3), 20-38.
Nadaf, M., Darzian Azizi, A., Tirandaz, S. (2018). Studying the mediating role of relationship quality dimensions between service personalization and customer gratitude impact on brand equity (Case study: Irancell Company). Journal of Business Management, 10(1), 207-228. (in Persian)
Ng, S., David, M. E., & Dagger, T. S. (2011). Generating positive word‐of‐mouth in the service experience. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal.
Noordewier, T.G., John, G., & Nevin, J.R. (1990). Performance outcomes of purchasing arrangements in industrial buyer-vendor relationships. Journal of marketing, 54(4), 80-93.
Palmatier, R. W. (2008). Relationship marketing: Marketing Science Institute Cambridge, MA.
Palmatier, R. W., & Steinhoff, L. (2019). Relationship marketing in the digital age: Routledge.
Palmatier, R. W., Scheer, L. K., Evans, K. R., & Arnold, T. J. (2008). Achieving relationship marketing effectiveness in business-to-business exchanges. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 36(2), 174-190.
Papista, E., & Dimitriadis, S. (2019). Consumer–green brand relationships: revisiting benefits, relationship quality and outcomes. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 28(2), 166-187.
Patterson, P. G., & Smith, T. (2001). Relationship benefits in service industries: a replication in a Southeast Asian context. Journal of Services Marketing, 15(6), 425-443.
Reichheld, F. F., & Teal, T. (1996). The loyalty effect: The hidden force behind growth, profits and lasting. Harvard Business School Publications, Boston.
Reinartz, W. J., & Kumar, V. (2000). On the profitability of long-life customers in a noncontractual setting: An empirical investigation and implications for marketing. Journal of marketing, 64(4), 17-35.
Reynolds, K. E., & Beatty, S. E. (1999). Customer benefits and company consequences of customer-salesperson relationships in retailing. Journal of retailing, 75(1), 11-13.
Ruiz-Molina, M.-E., Gil-Saura, I., & Berenguer-Contrí, G. (2009). Relational benefits and loyalty in retailing: an inter-sector comparison. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 37(6), 493-509.
Soni, P. (2019). Revisiting the role of relationship benefits in online retail. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.
Sota, S., Chaudhry, H., & Srivastava, M. K. (2020). Customer relationship management research in hospitality industry: a review and classification. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 29(1), 39-64.
Steinhoff, L., Arli, D., Weaven, S., & Kozlenkova, I. V. (2019). Online relationship marketing. Journal of the Academy of marketing science, 47(3), 369-393.
Thibaut, J. W. (2017). The social psychology of groups: Routledge.
Tsai, M.-C., Merkert, R., & Wang, J.-F. (2020). What drives freight transportation customer loyalty? Diverging marketing approaches for the air freight express industry. Transportation, 1-19.
Wong, K. H., Chang, H. H., & Yeh, C. H. (2019). The effects of consumption values and relational benefits on smartphone brand switching behavior. Information Technology & People, 32(1), 217-243.
Zhang, J. Z., Watson IV, G. F., Palmatier, R. W., & Dant, R. P. (2016). Dynamic relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 80(5), 53-75.