Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only.

The goal of this dissertation was to examine how people pursue their personal goals in the context of an intimate relationship. Two studies were conducted; a daily diary study of dating partners’ joint activities and a longitudinal study of newly dating couples. In the daily diary study, people reported on their daily joint activities with their dating partners regarding whether their goals were met and how they were feeling during the given activity. The results showed that when people’s goals were met in an activity, their partners were able to accurately perceive that their goals were being met. However, when their goals were not met in the activity, their partners’ accuracy regarding their goals was only at chance levels. The partners’ overall levels of goal congruence did not predict the proportion of goal-congruent activities the partners participated in. However, the partners’ level of goal congruence predicted increases in life satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship satisfaction, as well as decreases in negative affect over time. In the longitudinal study, newly dating couples filled out measures of their goals, well-being, and relationship quality during their initial session. Three months later, the couples filled out measures of these same constructs again and answered questions about the goals that they reported pursuing during their initial session. Results showed that concurrently, the partners’ levels of goal congruence were associated with greater ability to make goal progress and higher relationship satisfaction, both of which, in turn, were associated with higher subjective well-being. Longitudinally, initial levels of goal congruence did not predict changes in goal progress and relationship quality over time. However, analysis of the individual goals indicated that people adjusted their goal pursuits based on the level of goal conflict between their own goals and their partners’ goals, such that people were more likely to stop pursuing or devalue goals that conflicted with their partners’ goals over time. Furthermore, the tendency to adjust goals over time was associated with increasing relationship commitment. The results of these studies show that conflict between relationship partners’ goals has important consequences for their relationship, goal progress, and personal well-being.

Thesis (Ph. D. )--School of Education and Dept. of Sociology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2007. / "A dissertation in education and sociology." Advisor: Sue Vartuli. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed April 22, 2008 Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-214). Online version of the print edition.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p.137-152) and index.

This longitudinal study investigates whether the timing of sexual debut (early, on-time, or late, compared to one’s peers) is associated with young adult romantic relationship quality (i.e., overt and relational victimization, relational aggression, dating worries, and positive dating experiences) either directly or indirectly by moderating the relationship between trajectories of individual factors (internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and alcohol use) young adult romantic relationship quality. Participants were from a large, six-wave longitudinal study (N = 662, 48% males, M age at T1 = 15.5 years, SD = 1.9 years). I use multi-step regression models to estimate how sexual debut group moderates the association between individual factors and young adult romantic relationship experiences by estimating slopes and intercepts for individual factors and creating interaction terms to test the moderating effect of timing of sexual debut on the slopes and intercepts of individual factors. Gender differences are also investigated. Results indicate that early sexual debut is associated with higher baseline levels of individual factors and directly predicts negative relationship experiences in young adulthood. Early sexual debut moderates the relationship between baseline internalizing symptoms and negative dating experiences and dating worries in young adulthood. Findings also show that early sexual debut moderates the relationship between steeper increases in externalizing symptoms and negative dating experiences and dating worries. The results provide a better understanding of the longitudinal impacts of adolescent experiences on young adult relationship outcomes. / Graduate

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Briana S. Nelson Goff / Parenting a child with Down syndrome may pose unique challenges for parents’ relationship quality. Structural equation modeling was used with a sample of 351 mothers of children with Down syndrome to test if hope mediated the associated between various coping behaviors and relationship quality. Results indicated a greater degree of religious coping and internal coping were each significantly associated with more hope, whereas support seeking was not related with more hope. Higher hope was significantly associated with greater relationship quality. An indirect effect from both religious coping and internal coping to hope, and then hope to relationship quality was identified. Implications for family professionals and future research are discussed.

Forming and fostering B2B relationships are increasingly requiring communication between individuals in the opposite spectrum of culture dimensions such as individualism. Thus, establishing trusted and committed global partnerships involve designing communication processes that minimize differences and promote goal congruence. The behavior of business customers, in a global context, is an understudied field deserving greater attention in marketing research. This study unveils a universal and parsimonious model, highlighting the role of communication in shaping relationship quality, and including national culture as moderator. The study was conducted on a sample of managers and buyers from the USA (n=169) and Brazil (n=110). Factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied in order to validate the instrument, discover the relevant dimensions of communication and examine the relationships in the model. Four significant factors revealed the existence of a globally relevant, parsimonious and highly explanatory communication model that includes elements of quality, interaction, mutuality, and socialization. In addition, elements of social and functional relationship benefits are found to improve the quality of business relationships more than any other factor in the global model. In addition, culture was found to play a significant role on the intensity that most predictors have on increasing or decreasing buyer's trust in and satisfaction with the supplier. As a result, the model can aid both researchers and practitioners in understanding the important elements of communication and relationship benefits for buyers in the global marketplace.

This research study involves three essays and examines CRQ-driven decision making from the points of view of the common firm, social-commerce platform provider, and social-commerce echo-system. It addresses CRQ's progression from traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) initiatives to social platform-specific antecedents and to environment-driven factors lying outside the direct control of the platform provider, yet influencing social commerce business decisions, such as user-generated content from peers (e.g. family, friends) and expert authority (e.g. specialists, experts, professional organizations). The research method used statistical, data mining and computer science techniques. The results suggest that social platform providers should take a proactive approach to CRQ, fully leverage their online platform to improve CRQ while paying special attention to security as a potential barrier, and consider the analysis of elements of the echo-system such as the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) to further drive CRQ and determine the level of alignment between customers and experts, suppliers and products featured, that may lead to value-added managerial insights such as the prioritization, promotion and optimization of such relationships.

The value of the organisation’s credibility, reputation and interaction with customers equates to its relationship capital. Relationship capital defines the aptitude of an organisation to establish relationships in order to share information, knowledge, ideas, opportunities, contacts and referrals. However, the organisations as well as its personnel play a critical role in relational exchange and the quality of the relationship that is built with the customer. A strong positive relationship links relationship quality to suppliers, contact personnel and buyer’s loyalty by focussing on both the organisation and the individual commitments in a B2B relationship. The study seeks to determine the importance of organisational commitment and individual commitment in improving relationship quality within the Life Science industry. This is achieved by focusing on the individual antecedents that form individual commitment, consisting of antecedents such as communication, similarity, interaction frequency and the seller’s expertise. Similarly, it determines the buyer’s commitment to the organisation which consists of antecedents such as dependence on seller, relationship age and relationship benefits.The findings offer important insight of relationships between buyers and sellers in the B2B markets. The results indicate that relationship quality can be increased by simultaneously focussing on individual and organisational antecedents. The individual antecedents that significantly influence relationships in the Life Science industry are the seller’s expertise followed by interaction frequency. Similarly, the organisational antecedents are the relationship age followed by relationship benefits. Overall, the age of the relationship followed by seller’s expertise, interaction frequency and relationship benefits are the most effective relationship-building strategies across all elements of a relationship within this particular industry.This research provides both an academic contribution to the relationship marketing field as well as a practical implication for managers and executives within organisations. The main contribution for academic purposes involves both confirmation and distinctions from hypothesised relationships. The dissimilarities found in this study speak to the importance of the industry setting in which these relationships exits. Furthermore, this study suggests the integration of two bodies of literature: individual and organisational commitment. This research is of specific value to managers who are responsible for increasing relationship capital within their organisations. Simultaneous focus on these antecedents will allow managers to improve their relationship quality with the customer which would assist in retaining the customer on a long-term basis. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This is a longitudinal cross-lagged panel model examining the bi-directional association of attachment styles and relationship quality in a community sample of 355 married couples, with at least one child between 10-14 years of age at the beginning of the study and 17-21 years of age at the end of the study. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM), was used to test for actor and partner effects, thereby accounting for the non-independent nature of the data. Two separate APIM models were tested with Male Attachment predicting Female Relationship Quality and Female Attachment predicting Male Relationship Quality. Results indicate that own attachment was a stronger predictor of partner relationship quality over time than was own relationship quality to partner attachment; although male relationship quality did predict female attachment from T1 to T3, it was not significant at all other time points. Clinical implications and future research are discussed.