Product and relationship quality influence on customer commitment and loyalty in B2B manufacturing relationships

The article examines how product and relationship quality influence customer commitment along with their combined effect on customer loyalty. The results show that product quality influences positive and negative calculative commitment. With regard to relationship quality, its “social” dimensions su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Industrial marketing management 2010-11, Vol.39 (8), p.1321-1333
Main Authors: Cater, Tomaz, Cater, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affective commitment
Brand loyalty
Business to business commerce
Business-to-business market
Business-to-business sector
Calculative commitment
Commitment
Commitments
Consumer behavior
Cooperation
Influence
Knowledge transfer
Loyalty
Manufacturing
Motivational analysis
Product quality
Relationship quality
Social cooperation
Social dynamics
Social norms
Structural adaptation
Studies
Trust
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Summary:The article examines how product and relationship quality influence customer commitment along with their combined effect on customer loyalty. The results show that product quality influences positive and negative calculative commitment. With regard to relationship quality, its “social” dimensions such as cooperation and trust have a much greater influence on commitment than its “technical” dimensions such as knowledge transfers and adaptation. On the “social” side, cooperation and trust positively influence affective and normative commitment, with trust also positively affecting positive calculative commitment, while on the “technical” side the only significant link is between adaptation and normative commitment. As for the consequences of commitment, affective commitment positively influences attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, while negative calculative commitment positively influences behavioral loyalty. In addition to indirect effects, product quality also directly positively influences attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. The results imply that customer loyalty depends more on “emotional” (affective commitment) than on “rational” (negative calculative commitment and product quality) motivation to continue the relationship.
ISSN:0019-8501
1873-2062
DOI:10.1016/j.indmarman.2010.02.006