The aim of this study is to combine the various concepts, in the field of SME in service based industry, being developed independently by researchers. The goal is to provide a comprehensive overview on the rules and interactions of the involved factors. An investigation of the influence of corporate image and relationship quality on customer loyalty, among SMEs in the banking sector, is carried out. The moderating role of switching barrier is investigated. Furthermore the background variables, affecting relationship quality and corporate image, are investigated. This provides a deeper understanding on how customer loyalty is achieved. Such a deeper understanding on achieving customer loyalty can be regarded as a competitive tool especially in the banking sector with many financial providers and the products being alike. This article is based on 335 valid questionnaires returned from SME customers established in Sweden. The negative impact of Switching barrier on customer loyalty indicates that switching barrier should be avoided thus it decreases customer loyalty and does not have a moderating role. Instead focus should be put on delivering high professionalism which will contribute to higher level of relationship quality and positive perception of corporate image. This, in turn, will eliminate the moderating role of switching barrier and lead to customer loyalty.

With the rapid innovation of information technology and online service, the Internet as a new media has drastically changed the online behavior of human interaction. Microblogging that limits the number of characters allowed in a post to 140 words has emerged as a new and frequent communication via web postings. Microblogging has been used not only for social interaction but also for marketing and product promotion by companies and organizations. As the development of social community services become more mature, the new concept called ¡§social commerce,¡¨ that combines social networking and online shopping appears to be a promising new business model. The purpose of this study is to examine the usage behavior of microblogging by investigating the effect of social support and other factors on the intention to continue use a microblog and the intention to accept social commerce. An online survey was conducted on Plurk users. The results indicate that: (1) the motivations for writing blogs, social support and website quality have significant influences on the relationship quality between users and Plurk. Higher perceived social support and higher website quality result in a higher level of relationship quality; (2) The motivations for writing blogs and the perceived social support increase the self-disclosre behavior; (3) The perceived social support and website quality have positive impact on social commerce intention; and (4) The motivations for writing blogs, website quality, relationsip quality and self-disclosure have positive impacts on the intention to continue use the microblog.

Investment and wealth management are more important to customers than before. Bankers make the most of the market of wealth management. Relationship marketing plays an important role in this kind of situation. Relationship marketing is also the key factor of bankers¡¦ differentiation. According to literatures, this paper is to study the effect of ¡§the attributes of investor¡Bthe attributes of consultant¡Brelational selling behavior and corporate image¡¨ on the relationship quality. Refer to the paper of Morgan and Hunt (1994), the Key Mediating Variables Model describe that ¡§commitment and trust¡¨ are the key factors of success in the relationship marketing. So this paper adopts the concept of Key Mediating Variables Model, and uses ¡§commitment and trust¡¨ to discover the relationship quality between customers and consultants. This paper also discovers the effect of relationship quality on the customer satisfaction. Study Discovery: The customers¡¦ amount of investment and risk preference are not found to affect relationship quality significant effects. The expertise of the consultant has significant and positive effects on the relationship quality. Contact frequency and disclosure have significant and positive effects on the relationship quality. Corporate image is not found to affect relationship quality significant effects. Relationship quality has significant and positive effects on the customer satisfaction.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed Mar. 3, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-127).

Given its ever-increasing popularity, marketers are keen on exploring the benefits of using Twitter to create branded relationships with consumers. Central to the idea of consumer-brand relationships is the concept of commitment, which requires investment of direct resources, such as time, on the part of the consumer. The present research examines the relationship between time spent per login on Twitter and consumer-brand relationships through the constructs of brand relationship quality and brand attachment. Brand relationship quality is considered using four measures: enrichment, satisfaction, harmony, and trustworthiness. The concept of brand attachment is divided into measures of brand-self connection and brand prominence. Despite marketers’ efforts to keep consumers on Twitter for longer periods of time, results from this study were inconclusive, showing signs of little to no correlation between time and the tested variables. However, due to the limitations of this study, future research is necessary to improve the statistical quality of the findings. / text

This study proposes a model to test the relationships amongst supervisors' health behaviors and leadership behaviors. Specifically, 107 supervisor-subordinate pairs responded to a cross-sectional survey. Supervisors provided self-reports of their health behaviors (physical activity, diet, sleep, alcohol/tobacco use) and perceived well-being. Subordinates rated the supervisors' perceived leadership style and the quality of relationships they share at work. Results were mixed with support largely being found for previously established relationships between (a) physical activity, sleep duration and quality, and well-being, and (b) leadership behaviors and supervisor-subordinate relationship quality. The primary thesis of this study--that leaders with improved health behaviors and well-being will engage in more active leadership behaviors and fewer passive behaviors--was not supported. This study served as a first-step towards a more sophisticated understanding of how a healthy lifestyle impacts leaders' at-work behaviors and performance.

Tyrime dalyvavo 222 pirmų klasių mokiniai iš septynių Kauno mokyklų. Tiriamųjų amžius– nuo 6 iki 8 metų. Tyrime dalyvavo 134 mergaitės (60,4 %) ir 88 berniukai (39,6 %). Vaikų socialinė kompetencija buvo matuojama naudojant Socialinės kompetencijos pradinėje mokykloje skalės (SKPMS) trumpąją versiją, kurią užpildė klasės mokytoja. Metodika parengta Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Teorinės psichologijos katedros doktorantės Šarūnės Magelinskaitės- Legkauskienės. Tėvų tarpusavio santykių kokybė vertinta Suvokiamos santykio kokybės skale (Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC)) (Flet-cher et al., 2000), kurią užpildė vaikų tėvai. Lietuviška skalės versija buvo gauta iš Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Bendrosios psichologijos katedros doc. dr. Visvaldo Legkausko. Šeimos sudėtis buvo vertinta klausiant tėvų, ar vaikas gyvena su abiem biologiniais tėvais, ar vaiko tėvai yra išsiskyrę, teiraujamasi apie vaikų skaičių šeimoje, jų amžių, tiriamojo gimimo eiliškumą. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad socialinė kompetencija tarp berniukų ir mergaičių nesiskiria, tačiau yra tendencija skirtumui atsirasti. Pirmaklasių mergaičių iš pilnų šeimų, socialinė kompetencija yra aukštesnė nei mergaičių iš išsiskyrusių šeimų. Pirmaklasių socialinės kompetencijos ir vaikų skaičiaus šeimoje ryšys yra susijęs su lytimi: berniukų, turinčių bent vieną brolį ar seserį, socialinė kompetencija nesiskiria nuo vienintelių šeimoje berniukų; mergaičių, turinčių bent vieną brolį ar seserį, socialinė... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the study was to assess first graders' social competence links with the family composition and parental relationship quality. Subjects were 222 first-grade students attending seven schools in Kaunas. Age of subjects was ranging from 6 to 8 years. 134 (60.4%) of the subjects were girls and the rest 88 (39.6%) were boys (39.6%). Children's social competence was measured using the short versijon of the Social competence of elementary school scale (SKPMS),completed by the class teacher. The methodology developed by doctoral student Šarūnė Magelinskaitė-Legkauskienė at Vytautas Magnus University, Department of Theoretical Psychology. The quality of the relationship between parents rated Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC) (Flet-cher et al., 2000), completed by the parents of children. Lithuanian version of the scale was obtained from doc. dr..Visvaldas Legkauskas at Vytautas Magnus University, Department of General Psychology. Family composition has been rated by asking parents whether the child lives with both biological parents or the child's parents are divorced, has been asked about the number of children in the family, their ages, birth order of the first – graders. The results showed that social competence is not different between boys and girls, but there is the tendency to occur the difference. First-graders living in two-parent families in the girls sample groups have a higher social competence than first-graders living in divorced families... [to full text]

The purpose of the current study is determine if the presence of a natural mentor, and/or the quality of relationship within protégé-mentor relationships, predicts the development of Future Orientation (FO) among African American girls living in conditions of risk. A sample of 160 girls of African descent was recruited from 6 elementary and middle schools. An exploratory factor analysis of 19 FO items suggested a 2-factor model consisting of (1) motivation and (2) planning. The model did not support the third expected factor, evaluation. The presence of natural mentors failed to predict concurrent levels of FO. Relationship quality did significantly predict concurrent levels of FO. Post-hoc analyses indicated that the consistent presence of a natural mentor predicted the development of FO. Post-hoc analyses also indicated the relationship quality with one’s, significantly predicted the development of FO among consistently mentored girls. Methodological limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Building and maintaining business relationships is becoming increasingly important as organisations seek to improve their competitive advantage by entering long-term relationships with strategic business partners. It is suggested that the quality of the relationship determines the likelihood of maintaining an ongoing relationship between buyers and sellers. Research in the area of business-to-business relationship quality is still in its infancy with limited agreement of the dimensions of relationship quality or even the definition of relationship quality in a business-to-business context. The aim of this Interpretivist study, set in the financial services industry in Australia, was to develop an understanding of what participants in a dyadic business relationship perceive to be the attributes of a high quality relationship. Methodologically the research took a case study approach to the collection of primary data through the use of open-ended depth interviews. Epistemologically the research derived categories and concepts from the social actors engaged in the mutually constructed social reality of the business relationship dyad. This formed the basis for understanding the quality concept by describing relationship-based activities and meanings. The findings indicate that some dimensions of relationship quality are identified dyadically whereas other dimensions are buyer or seller specific. Some dimensions of relationship quality suggested by the literature emerged from the data generated for this study, while others were previously unidentified, including good product, reciprocity, face-to-face contact, problem resolution, efficiency of service, staff consistency, business support and hierarchy of contacts. The findings suggest four implications for professional practice: the need for face-to-face contact; the importance of establishing a hierarchy of contacts across the business relationship; the suggestion that relationship quality is a continuum rather than a destination; and the suggestion that problem resolution may be a catalyst for relationship strength.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on August 7, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-42).