Causes and outcomes of satisfaction in business relationships

TLDR: In this article, the authors used Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the responses from 212 key informants and found that the strongest positive associations are from the relationship marketing portion of the model including trust satisfaction and commitment satisfaction.

Abstract: Purpose – This study includes relationship marketing concepts (i.e. trust, commitment, and satisfaction) as precursors to transaction cost theory outcomes (i.e. specific investments, opportunism, and formalization) which are rarely, if ever, included together. Trust and commitment lead to satisfaction and satisfaction in turn leads transaction cost outcomes. The paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – The random sample is 600 small‐ to medium‐sized Norwegian manufacturers. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling was used to examine the responses from 212 key informants.Findings – The strongest positive associations are from the relationship marketing portion of the model including trust satisfaction and commitment satisfaction. The highest negative association in the model is satisfaction opportunism. Contrary to predictions, satisfaction did not have a significant association with either specific investments or formalization.Research limitations/implication...