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Showing papers on "Relationship marketing published in 2014"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a survey of marketing managers showed that firms face internal and external pressures to adopt a digital presence in social media platforms, and marketers must focus on relationship-based interactions with their customers.

454 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Increasingly, and inevitably, all of marketing will come to resemble to a greater degree the formerly specialized area of service marketing, only with an increased emphasis on marketing analytics.
Abstract: The nature of marketing science is changing in a systematic, predictable, and irrevocable way. As information technology enables ubiquitous customer communication and big customer data, the fundamental nature of the firm's connection to the customer changes: better, more personalized service can be offered, from which service relationships are deepened, and consequently, more profitable customers grow the influence of service within the goods sector and expand the service sector in the economy. Marketing is becoming more personalized, and marketing science techniques that exploit customer heterogeneity are becoming more important. Information technology improvements also guarantee the increasing importance and usage of computationally intensive data processing and “big data.” Most importantly, these trends have already lasted for more than a century, and they will become even more pronounced in the coming years as a result of the monotonic nature of technology improvement. These changes imply a transformation of marketing science in both the topics to be emphasized and the methods to be employed. Increasingly, and inevitably, all of marketing will come to resemble to a greater degree the formerly specialized area of service marketing, only with an increased emphasis on marketing analytics.

364 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, customer cocreated knowledge is first delineated into its key value dimensions of relevance, novelty, and costs, and then their impact on various innovation outcomes is investigated. But, despite its suggested importance, previous research has revealed contradictory findings regarding its impact, the nature of involved customers, and the channels of communication that enable cocreation.

285 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the Facebook viral marketing campaigns of 751 products and reveals that the same sharing mechanism that made FarmVille so successful is the worst possible mechanism for promoting primarily utilitarian products.
Abstract: The success of products such as FarmVille has prompted many firms to engage in viral marketing on Facebook and other social media websites. Yet is the viral marketing approach adopted for games suitable for other, more utilitarian products? This study aims to answer questions that link product characteristics and contexts to viral marketing success: Should primarily utilitarian products rely on the same sharing mechanisms for their viral marketing campaigns as less utilitarian products? If not, why is this the case, and how should viral marketing for primarily utilitarian products differ? This empirical study analyzes the Facebook viral marketing campaigns of 751 products and reveals that the same sharing mechanism that made FarmVille so successful is the worst possible mechanism for promoting primarily utilitarian products. These findings are in line with theory from social psychology: because consumers do not visit Facebook to learn about utilitarian products, they rely on simple cues and heuristics to ...

238 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors adopt Hofstede's dimensions of culture to conduct a comprehensive, multivariate, metaregression analysis of 47,864 relationships across 170 studies, 36 countries, and six continents.
Abstract: International relationships are increasingly critical to business performance. Yet despite a recent surge in international research on relationship marketing (RM), it is unclear whether or how RM should be adapted across cultures. The authors adopt Hofstede's dimensions of culture to conduct a comprehensive, multivariate, metaregression analysis of 47,864 relationships across 170 studies, 36 countries, and six continents. To guide theory, they propose four tenets that parsimoniously capture the essence of culture's effects on RM. Study 1 affirms these tenets and emphasizes the importance of taking a fine-grained perspective to understand the role of culture in RM because of the high degree of heterogeneity across different cultural dimensions and RM linkages. For example, the magnitude of individualism's effect is 71% greater on RM than other cultural dimensions, whereas masculinity has almost no effect; however, accounting only for individualism ignores significant moderating effects of power distance an...

234 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors outline the nature, effects and present status of the Social Media, underlying their role as customer empowerment agents and propose two possible Social Media marketing strategies: a passive approach focusing on utilizing the social media domain as source of customer voice and market intelligence, and an active approach i.e. engaging the social Media as direct marketing and PR channels, as channels of customer influence, as tools of personalizing products and last but not least develop them as platforms of co-operation and customer-generated innovation.

198 citations


Book ChapterDOI
18 Dec 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, a major hurdle is lack of grand theory, in which the parts, links, and changes of marketing can be addressed and be given meaning, and the potential of these potential has not been properly tapped; they have neither become as comprehensive nor been as successfully implemented as I had hoped.
Abstract: Vargo and Lusch (2004a, p. 15) state that “the academic focus is shifting from the thing being exchanged to one on the process of exchange. Science has moved from a focus on mechanics to one on dynamics, evolutionary development, and the emergence of complex adaptive systems.” Services marketing, relationship marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), and oneto-one marketing, and in addition to those quality management and the balanced scorecard, have all contributed in this direction. But their potential has not been properly tapped; they have neither become as comprehensive nor been as successfully implemented as I had hoped. My conclusion is that a major hurdle is lack of grand theory, in which the parts, links, and changes of marketing can be addressed and be given meaning.

164 citations


Book ChapterDOI
18 Dec 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the S-D logic involves the customer as co-producer and relationship marketing, which may lead to difficulties for more aggregate conceptions of the field of marketing.
Abstract: The Service-Dominant (S-D) logic has a strong explicit focus on the firm, but this may lead to difficulties for more aggregate conceptions of the field of marketing. The concept of an Aggregate Marketing System is (AGMS), a huge, powerful, yet intricate complex operating to serve the needs of its host society. The study of consumer behavior, as well as applied work within the public policy sphere of consumer protection, provides overwhelming evidence of a substantial disparity between the resources that marketers and consumers bring to the marketplace. Consumer's motivations are not always straightforward, which further complicates the challenge for S-D logic to achieve its goals in the consumer marketplace. The American Marketing Association (AMA) convened a process to update the definition of marketing. Marketing managers typically provide only partial information to customers, those inputs that reflect most positively on the offered alternative. The chapter explains that the S-D logic involves the customer as co-producer and relationship marketing.

155 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined fans and non-fans of the Zara brand on Facebook and found that Facebook enhances the relations that increase loyalty via trust, customer satisfaction, perceived value, and commitment.

136 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and customer-company identification in driving important customer outcomes over time is presented, showing that customer satisfaction has positive initial effects on customers' loyalty and company identification has positive early effects on customer loyalty.
Abstract: Previous research has identified customer satisfaction and customer–company identification as two of the most important concepts in relationship marketing. Yet despite their proclaimed importance, research on their long-term effectiveness is surprisingly scarce. Furthermore, comparative research acknowledging the concepts' different theoretical roots and illuminating the differences in their long-term effectiveness is lacking. In addition, little is known about how competitive actions affect the long-term effectiveness of both concepts. This study makes a first attempt to address these research gaps and offers a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and customer–company identification in driving important customer outcomes over time. Latent growth analyses of rich longitudinal data from customers over nine measurement points spanning 43 weeks (n = 6,930) show that customer satisfaction and customer–company identification have positive initial effects on customers' loyalty and ...

133 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the role of boundary spanners in tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing and its ability to enhance marketing success (i.e., marketing program innovativeness, relative efficiency, and relative effectiveness).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors adopt a multivariate copula model using a pair-copula construction method to jointly model opt-in time, opt-out time, and average transaction amount.
Abstract: The rise of new media is helping marketers evolve from digital to interactive marketing, which facilitates a two-way communication between marketers and customers without intruding on their privacy. However, while research has examined the drivers of customers' opt-in and opt-out decisions, it has investigated neither the timing of the two decisions nor the influence of transactional activity on the length of time a customer stays with an e-mail program. In this study, the authors adopt a multivariate copula model using a pair-copula construction method to jointly model opt-in time (from a customer's first purchase to the opt-in decision), opt-out time (from the opt-in decision to the opt-out decision), and average transaction amount. Through such multivariate dependences, this model significantly improves the predictive performance of the opt-out time in comparison with several benchmark models. The study offers several important findings: (1) marketing intensity affects opt-in and opt-out times, (2) cus...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a model of drivers of sustainable export marketing strategy adaptation and explored the circumstances under which such a strategy affects export performance using a sample of U.K. exporters.
Abstract: Despite the growing global importance of sustainability issues, scant research has examined marketing strategy sustainability issues in international settings. Although significant prior work has examined drivers and performance consequences of adaptation/standardization of marketing strategies in international markets, researchers have yet to apply this avenue of inquiry to sustainable marketing strategies. Building on contingency theory and the concept of strategic fit, the authors develop a model of drivers of sustainable export marketing strategy adaptation and explore the circumstances under which such a strategy affects export performance. Using a sample of U.K. exporters, they find that various macro- and microenvironmental factors are responsible for sustainable export marketing strategy adaptation, which shapes the nature of sustainable export marketing strategy fit and its export venture performance outcomes. The results indicate that sustainable export marketing strategy adaptation is the outcome of the differences between home and export markets in terms of economic and technological conditions, competitive intensity, customer characteristics, and stakeholder pressures. Moreover, the performance relevance of sustainable export marketing strategy adaptation requires adequate fit with these macro- and microenvironmental factors.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed that customer orientation of platform firms consists of total customer orientation (customer orientation toward both the buyer and seller sides) and customer orientation asymmetry, and examined the antecedents and consequences of these orientations.
Abstract: Internet-based business-to-business platforms involve a buyer side transacting with a seller side, both of which are customers of an intermediary platform firm. Dyadic viewpoints implicit in conventional theories of customer orientation thus must be modified to apply to a triadic relationship system (seller–platform–buyer) in platform settings. The authors propose that customer orientation of platform firms consists of total customer orientation (customer orientation toward both the buyer and seller sides) and customer orientation asymmetry (customer orientation in favor of the seller relative to the buyer side) and examine the antecedents and consequences of these orientations. Data from 109 business-to-business electronic platforms reveal that buyer- (seller-) side concentration increases total customer orientation and customer orientation asymmetry toward sellers (buyers). These positive effects are weaker when buyers and sellers interact directly (two-sided matching) versus indirectly (one-sided match...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors integrate relationship marketing and social network perspectives to develop and test a model that links objective sales performance with the informational and cooperative benefits that stem from relationship managers' social capital structure (brokerage and density) and relations (formal and informal networks).
Abstract: This article integrates relationship marketing and social network perspectives to develop and test a model that links objective sales performance with the informational and cooperative benefits that stem from relationship managers' (RMs') social capital structure (brokerage and density) and relations (formal and informal networks). The authors demonstrate the effect of cross-network and overlap-network synergies on performance. Data about both formal and informal networks of 464 employees, including 101 RMs, demonstrate that RMs' performance improves with cross-network synergy when informational benefits from wide-reaching, nonoverlapping ties in the informal network combine with the cooperative benefits of a densely interconnected formal network. In addition, the effects of formal and informal social capital structure on performance increase significantly when RMs have a high degree of network overlap between their formal and informal networks.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated how perceptions associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives influence customers' preference and loyalty in a controversial consumer market and examined the mediating effect of brand preference between perceived CSR initiatives and customer loyalty.
Abstract: Purpose – This study aims to investigate how perceptions associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives influence customers’ preference and loyalty in a controversial consumer market. The mediating effect of brand preference between perceived CSR initiatives and customer loyalty is also examined. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology in the current study involves the use of questionnaire surveys delivered to a convenience sample in the city of Macau in 2012. A total of 616 valid samples were collected among casino players in a high bet limit area in six major casinos. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses formulated for carrying the study forward. Findings – The findings indicated that customers’ brand preference can be enhanced by their perceptions on CSR. Two CSR initiatives (stakeholders and society) significantly increase loyalty intention, although to varying degrees. The impact of CSR on stakeholders has a stronger influence on customers’ brand preference. An...

02 Jul 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors empirically assessed eight European pulp customer firms' perceptions of value and brand of pulp suppliers using qualitative interviews and a small scale focus group, and found that customers considered pulp suppliers to be competent.
Abstract: Pulp suppliers are acting in a complex and dynamic environment. Branding and differentiation have therefore grown in importance for attracting pulp customer firms. Knowledge about pulp customer firms’ perceptions’ of value has become a key issue so that suppliers can develop valuable offerings. Accordingly, this study empirically assessed eight European pulp customer firms’ perceptions’ of value and brand of pulp suppliers. The perceptions of value between the eight customers have been compared with one supplier’s. These assessments were made using a multiple methodology approach, which comprised of qualitative interviews and a small scale focus group. The theoretical approach for this assessment is comprised of multiple theoretical models, which combined constitutes the theoretical framework with a base in relationship marketing and in particular models about customer perceptions’ of value. The findings of the study comprised of eight emerging perceptions of value and varied perceptions of suppliers’ brands. The two prioritised values were quality and relative price i.e. price in relation to other aspects of the offering and price in relation to other suppliers’ price. Furthermore, there were equal perceptions of value between the customers and the supplier. Customer firms’ considered pulp suppliers to be competent. Through assessing the findings with the theoretical framework the core value parameters of today’s business, possibilities for value adding and areas for future competitive positioning were created. Given price will remain an issue, and all suppliers are competent, one key challenge for suppliers will be how to enhance customer value while maintaining a low relative price.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the expected adoption rate of gamification in marketing campaigns and found that gamification's primary goals perfectly align with three core marketing concepts: engagement, brand loyalty and brand awareness.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study how relationship marketing can reduce cognitive dissonance in post-purchase stage and increase customer satisfaction and encourage loyalty under mediating roles of trust and cognitive discordance.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study how relationship marketing can reduce cognitive dissonance in post-purchase stage and, thereby, increase customer satisfaction and encourage loyalty under mediating roles of trust and cognitive dissonance. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a survey on consumers of cell phones, the authors tested the effects of relationship marketing on cognitive dissonance and then customer satisfaction, behavioural, and attitudinal loyalty, using structural equation modelling. Findings – The results indicate that, thanks to relationship marketing, consumers undertook less cognitive dissonance in post-purchase stage. Thus, as consumers faced less cognitive dissonance, they represented more satisfaction and thereby behavioural and attitudinal loyalty. Additionally, the study confirmed the mediating role of trust and cognitive dissonance. Practical implications – The results show that when brands and retailers make their ties with their customers stronger and encourage tr...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The criteria offer a verifiable explanation for differences in marketing elasticities and an actionable connection between marketing and financial performance metrics and establish that combining marketing and attitudinal metrics criteria improves the prediction of brand sales performance, often substantially so.
Abstract: Marketing managers often use consumer attitude metrics such as awareness, consideration, and preference as performance indicators because they represent their brand's health and are readily connected to marketing activity. However, this does not mean that financially focused executives know how such metrics translate into sales performance, which would allow them to make beneficial marketing mix decisions. We propose four criteria---potential, responsiveness, stickiness, and sales conversion---that determine the connection between marketing actions, attitudinal metrics, and sales outcomes. We test our approach with a rich data set of four-weekly marketing actions, attitude metrics, and sales for several consumer brands in four categories over a seven-year period. The results quantify how marketing actions affect sales performance through their differential impact on attitudinal metrics, as captured by our proposed criteria. We find that marketing--attitude and attitude--sales relationships are predominantly stable over time but differ substantially across brands and product categories. We also establish that combining marketing and attitudinal metrics criteria improves the prediction of brand sales performance, often substantially so. Based on these insights, we provide specific recommendations on improving the marketing mix for different brands, and we validate them in a holdout sample. For managers and researchers alike, our criteria offer a verifiable explanation for differences in marketing elasticities and an actionable connection between marketing and financial performance metrics.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, cultural congruence (the degree to which an organization meets an employee's cultural needs) moderates the internal marketing practice and employee satisfaction relationship in a culturally diverse work setting.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the impact of marketing science articles and tools on the practice of marketing and find that the impact is either direct (e.g., an academic article may be adapted to solve a practical problem) or indirect (i.e., its contents may be incorporated into practitioners' tools, which then influence marketing decision making).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the impact of marketing activities on relationship quality in the Malaysian banking sector and found that greater client and employees' relational orientation yields higher relationship quality and results in better relationship continuity.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review of relevant literature and two qualitative studies on gratitude's role in relational exchange is explored by a main study through in-depth interviews with buyers and sellers of goods and services in both B2B and B2C contexts, leading to a grounded theoretical foundation.
Abstract: Purpose – For centuries, gratitude has represented an integral component of social relationships, yet it remains relatively overlooked by marketing scholars in the study of commercial relationships. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how gratitude helps to build, maintain and transform commercial relationships and to suggest noteworthy areas of investigation for those researchers seeking to help companies understand the role of gratitude in relationship marketing. Design/methodology/approach – Gratitude's role in relational exchange is explored by a review of relevant literature and two qualitative studies. Questions developed from the literature and exploratory interviews are then investigated in a main study through in-depth interviews with buyers and sellers of goods and services in both B2B and B2C contexts, leading to a grounded theoretical foundation. Generalizations and directions for future research are presented. Findings – Gratitude is a fundamental component of buyer-seller relationshi...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce and examine a new marketing concept that a small set of leading firms has begun to adopt: marketing doctrine, which refers to a firm's unique principles, distilled from its experiences, which provide firmwide guidance on market-facing choices.
Abstract: The authors introduce and examine a new marketing concept that a small set of leading firms has begun to adopt: marketing doctrine. Marketing doctrine refers to a firm's unique principles, distilled from its experiences, which provide firm-wide guidance on market-facing choices. As such, marketing doctrine provides a firm-wide common approach to decision making. Importantly, marketing doctrine helps a firm address the classic consistency–flexibility conundrum by providing high-level guidance to all decision makers in the firm (thus ensuring consistency) but not specifying execution details (thus allowing for local flexibility). Across three samples, the authors explore the concept using a discovery-oriented, theories-in-use approach with 35 executives from several industries. This article makes four contributions. First, it offers a parsimonious definition of the marketing doctrine construct and contrasts it with related constructs. Second, it offers insight into how firms can develop marketing doctrine. ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that customer experience, satisfaction, trust, and commit- ment to private labels play an important role in customer loyalty toward private labels in convenience goods.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a reliable and valid integrative scale for online relationship quality based on both the relationship marketing and electronic commerce literature, which was developed using the approach put forward by Churchill (1979).
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a reliable and valid integrative scale for online relationship quality based on both the relationship marketing and electronic commerce literature. Design/methodology/approach – The scale was developed using the approach put forward by Churchill (1979). The scale development and validation process includes a qualitative exploratory phase, three pre-tests and a final study using an online questionnaire (476 members of a consumer panel). Findings – The findings support a third-order integrative model of online relationship quality composed of three dimensions (trust, commitment and satisfaction). The final scale is composed of 21 items. Research limitations/implications – The study shows a lack of discrimination between satisfaction and trust, which other studies have also found. As the scale is validated in only one sector, online banking, it should be tested and replicated in other contexts (e.g. insurance). Practical implications – An instrument for asses...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assessed the financial contribution of marketing capability, which is defined as the deployment of marketing resources to achieve the ultimate objectives of customer satisfaction and brand equity (i.e., customeroriented marketing capability [COMC]).
Abstract: This article assesses the financial contribution of marketing capability. In contrast with previous research, which conceptualizes marketing capability as the deployment of marketing resources to achieve sales, this study conceives marketing capability as the deployment of marketing resources to achieve the ultimate objectives of customer satisfaction and brand equity (i.e., customer-oriented marketing capability [COMC]). Thus, this research disentangles the dynamic relationships among marketing resources, sales, customer satisfaction, and brand equity through the use of network Data Envelopment Analysis to capture COMC. According to what the value relevance perspective proposes, COMC positively influences the growth of Tobin’s q and improves the growth of analysts’ recommendations. These findings remain robust and consistent with the use of additional measures and methods common to the marketing and financial literatures. Our study provides tools and a framework for analysis for managers to maximize their ability to use marketing strategy to drive performance.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the effect of relationship marketing on corporate image and service quality and the interrelation between corporate image, service quality, and the response to customer perception, all of which are mutually related and influenced.
Abstract: The hotel industry in Taiwan is committed to improving service quality to increase competitiveness and to thereby develop and maintain long-term, steady customer relationships. The aims of this study are to investigate the effect of relationship marketing on corporate image and service quality and the interrelation between corporate image and service quality. The survey results of this study showed that relationship orientation positively affects customer perception of the hotel corporate image and its service quality; the hotel's functional image perception; the hotel's physical equipment, decor and environment; and the hotel's response to customer perception, all of which are mutually related and influenced. This study further found that female customers and customers with higher education positively affect the perception of the hotel's corporate image and service quality. It is important for hotel managers to improve service quality and customer relationship management.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify three indirect customer marketing approaches: direct customer downstream support, cooperative indirect customers marketing, and independent indirect marketing approaches, and propose external and internal moderators that influence the relationship between a B2B supplier's marketing approaches to indirect customers and its financial performance.
Abstract: Suppliers in business-to-business (B2B) markets often approach their customers' customers with marketing activities. However, marketing research lacks an integrative conceptualization of this phenomenon. The authors address this void by conceptualizing a B2B supplier's marketing approaches to indirect customers. Drawing on a literature review and a qualitative empirical study, the authors identify three indirect customer marketing approaches: direct customer downstream support, cooperative indirect customer marketing, and independent indirect customer marketing. They also propose external (value chain–related) and internal (B2B supplier–related) moderators that influence the relationship between a B2B supplier's marketing approaches to indirect customers and its financial performance. The authors argue that although power constellations and product value contribution in the value chain determine the specific indirect customer marketing approach that will lead to financial success, internal professionaliza...