Traditional business process has provoked by advanced information technology and toward a collaborative and cooperative long-term orientation partnership rather than a short-term transactional relationship. Since opened market and loosened regulations on oil products and oil business in Taiwan, gas station industries have competed fiercely that results in a changed relationship with oil suppliers. This article aims to apply the KMV model conceptualized by Morgan & Hunt in 1994 to examine the cooperative partnership between oil suppliers and gas stations owners in Taiwan. 96 effective respondents of 269 samples from five regions, including Tainan county/ city, Kaohsiung county/ city and Pingtung county. The findings demonstrate the importance of relationship benefits, trust, relationship commitment, communication and opportunistic behavior between exchanging partners, whereas acquiescence, propensity to leave, cooperation and uncertainty affected by relationship commitment and trust. And trust is a mediating variable to relationship commitment and cooperation. Some managerial suggestions are given.

Försvarsmaktens nya personalförsörjningssystem har medfört utmaningar och aktualiserat frågor kring de nya personalkategorierna. Utifrån att personalkategorin specialistofficer i framtiden ska utgöra kontinuiteten inom förbanden är syftet med studien att undersöka specialistofficerens relation till arbetsgivaren Försvarsmakten. Arbetets ansats är att ge en ökad förståelse för specialistofficerens relationship commitment, dvs. engagemanget för själva relationen till Försvarsmakten. Studiens teoretiska ram bygger på Meyer och Allens konceptuella trekomponentsmodell om organizational commitment. Studien genomförs som en attitydundersökning i form av en enkät, med framförallt slutna påståenden men även två öppna frågeställningar där resultatanalysen innehåller både en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ del. Resultatet visar att specialistofficeren tillmäter den känslomässiga komponenten störst betydelse för relationen vilket bekräftar tidigare forskning avseende kännetecken förprofessionsyrken. Inom denna komponent värderas påverkansfaktorerna personlig kompetens, trivsel, delade värderingar och stolthet högst. Resultatet visar även att andra faktorer såsom tvingande miljö inom den normativa komponenten har ett visst inflytande i engagemanget för relationen och att relationsfördelar inom den kalkylerade komponenten har en hög korrelation till viljan att fortsätta relationen.

With the rise of Web 2.0 concept, the development of virtual communities focuses more on the factors of relationship and interaction. Micro-blogging, the kind of community platforms that limit the length of a post and emphasize real-time and interactive features, has become popular these years. Seeing the potential of micro-blogging marketing, many businesses start to use micro-blogging as a promotional channel. With the different characteristics and multiple features of micro-blogging services, however, most businesses are still exploring how to make relationship marketing successful. This study uses commitment-trust theory by Morgan & Hunt (1994) to investigate the building of trust and commitment between users and communities and their influence on community loyalty from the perspective of relationship commitment. An online-survey was conducted among Plurk users, and 300 valid respondents were used for data analysis by structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate that commitment and trust have a significantly positive effect on loyalty. Trust is significantly influenced by shared values, communication and opportunistic behavior, and commitment is significantly influenced by relation-ship benefits and trust. Information quality and shared values, however, do not have significant impact on commitment. Furthermore, user characteristics and usage frequency have significant moderating effect on the level of causal influence. The results show the importance of trust and commitment building in micro-blogging and provide useful suggestions for micro-blogging marketing.

Relationship marking, which focuses on ways to build, develop, and maintain successful relational exchanges, is an important way to sustain loyal customer. Previous studies that note the types of bonds that enhance commitment suggest that customer commitment can be built through the application of financial, social, and structural bonds. Although empirical research that focuses on the application of relational bonds in a virtual environment is relatively sparse. The purpose of this study is to explore that different bonds(financial bonds, social bonds, and structural bonds) can enhance what kinds of consumer commitment(continuance commitment, affective commitment, and normative commitment). This study also attempt to explain the relationships between types of bonds and consumer commitment in different degree of customization and consumer relationship proneness. This study takes the consumer who in hair beauty and gas station for example. A total of 291 questionnaires were recovered, and after deducting the 71 invalid responses, the effective questionnaire sample contains 220 copies. The data gleaned from the questionnaire was subjected to descriptive statistical analysis, SEM, 1-Way MANCOVA and regression analysis in order to prove the hypothesis proposed in the theoretical structure of this research.The findings of this study are fivefold. 1.Almost all respondents confused social bonds with structural bonds. In this study, we combine social bonds with structural bonds, and named it core bonds. 2.The results suggest that financial bonds have positive impacts on normative commitment and continuance commitment. 3.The results suggest that core bonds have positive impacts on normative commitment, continuance commitment and affective commitment. 4.The different degree of customization influences relationship between bonds and commitment. 5.The people who has high relationship proneness will have high commitment.

Adult attachment has been found to play an important role for romantic relationship satisfaction. Specifically, the existent literature generally suggests that attachment anxiety is negatively related to relationship satisfaction. However, the underlying mechanism for this link still needs further exploration. The present study examined the direct and indirect effect of attachment anxiety on relationship satisfaction via two distinct relationship commitment variables: constraint commitment and dedication commitment. The final sample included 146 unmarried participants who were in a romantic relationship for at least three months. Results of multiple regression analyses on the indirect effect model indicated that attachment anxiety had a significant direct effect on relationship satisfaction as well as a significant indirect effect on relationship satisfaction via constraint commitment. However, the hypothesized indirect effect through dedication commitment was not supported. Findings are discussed from the adult attachment perspective. Counseling implications, limitations, and future research directions are outlined.

Formal mentoring programs rely on mentors to build supportive relationships with youth with the intention of providing positive developmental opportunities for the youth. This dissertation, which includes three studies, explores the experiences of mentors, focusing on factors that contribute to mentors committing to and sustaining mentoring relationships, and how mentors approach building a supportive relationship. Study 1 develops and tests a conceptual model of mentor retention integrating concepts from the volunteerism and interpersonal relationship literatures to predict mentor retention. Participants were 51 college student-mentors. Path analysis showed support for the conceptual model. Mentor retention was predicted by their commitment but not by role identity. Role identity was positively related to mentor commitment. Role identity was predicted by relationship satisfaction, available alternatives and investment; only satisfaction predicted commitment. Study 2 examined how program practices influence mentor commitment utilizing secondary data from 551 mentors from mentoring programs involved in a large, randomized controlled trial evaluating an intervention to improve mentoring program quality. Path analysis demonstrated that how well the mentor felt the program set expectations and whether they were matched with a youth based on their preferences were associated with the mentor’s commitment. The relationships between commitment and program practices were partially mediated by the mentor’s relationship satisfaction and available alternatives. Study 3 explores how mentors approach building their mentoring relationship, whether different approaches contribute to supports offered to the youth, and if there are differences by gender or whether the mentor has previous experience mentoring. Thematic analysis of 16 mentoring relationships did not identify any specific approach as best. Instead, what mattered was the fit of the approach with the specific circumstances of the match. Mentors whose approach fit well or who were able to adapt their approach had the longest matches and provided the most support. Males were more often described to have an approach that was a good fit and to have provided more support. Whether previous mentoring experience helped a mentor build the relationship and support the youth depended on how the previous relationship went and how it influenced the mentor’s expectations with regard to the current match.

THE PREDICTORS OF RELATIONSHIP COMMITMENT: PERCEIVED PARENTING STYLE, PARENTAL APPROVAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE BeSikci, Ezgi M.S., Department of Psychology Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nuray Sakalli-Ugurlu September 2008, 81 pages The main objective of the current thesis was to investigate the association between parental approval and romantic relationship commitment, and the roles of parenting style dimensions and psychological reactance in this association. Sample of the current study consisted of 166 METU students who had ongoing romantic relationships. An integrated model icluding associations between parenting style dimensions, parental approval, psychological reactance and relationship commitment was tested with LISREL 8. Since structural equation modeling did not provide results as informative as expected, the proposed model was examined as two seperate models. In the first model, the role of parental approval in the link between parenting style dimensions and relationship commitment was examined. In the second model, the role of psychological reactance in the link between parental approval and relationship commitment was examined. The results revealed that maternal acceptance had an indirect effect on relationship commitment via parental approval. In particular, increases in maternal acceptance led to increases in parental approval, which in turn led to increases in relationship commitment However, there was no significant finding regarding the impact of psychological reactance on the link between parental approval and relationship commitment. This thesis aims to make its own contribution to the literature by scrutinizing a) the association between parental approval and relationship commitment, and b) the role of parenting style dimensions in this association. Keywords: Relationship Commitment, Parental Approval, Perceived Parenting Styles, Psychological Reactance

The current study examined differences in intracultural and intercultural relationships. In this study, data were collected from 139 individuals currently in intracultural romantic relationships (same ethnicity and country of origin) and 120 individuals currently in intercultural romantic relationships (different ethnicity or country of origin) through MTurk. Participants completed measures for personality (20-item Mini-IPIP), individualism and collectivism (Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism Scale), ethnic identity (Multi-group Ethnic Identity Measure), implicit relationship theory (Relationship Theory Questionnaire), relationship satisfaction (DAS: Dyadic Adjustment Scale and RAS: Relationship Assessment Scale), relationship commitment (Commitment Level Items of the Investment Model Scale), one question to address whether the individuals' partners are seen as one's soul mate, and demographics. Participants were compensated $0.85 for completing the survey. MANOVA analyses indicated that individuals in intracultural and intercultural relationships differ significantly in terms of RAS, DAS, and Commitment Level Item scores, with those in intercultural relationships scoring significantly lower on all three measures. Regression analyses indicated that the significant predictors for RAS, DAS, and Commitment Level items differ for individuals in intracultural and intercultural relationships. These findings suggest the type of relationship (intracultural versus intercultural) is an important factor to consider. Research on intracultural relationships may not translate to individuals in intercultural relationships.

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Background: In the advent of multi-sided platforms defying traditional business models, sustaining long-term scale and success of platforms remains a great challenge to date. At the same time, customer engagement prevails as a superior factor enhancing customer loyalty in the current relationship marketing theory. Hence, utilizing customer engagement as a social tool to attract and sustain users could pose an appropriate answer for the struggles of platform businesses. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to validate context-specific relationships of customer engagement within a nomological network for multi-sided platform settings. By doing so, we particularly want to investigate context- specific antecedents in MSP settings leading to customer engagement and subsequently test its potential outcome of the continued use of the platform. Approach: By employing the pioneering example of Korea’s ubiquitous multi-sided platform KakaoTalk, we constructed a context-specific nomological network around customer engagement based on the platform’s perceived functionalities and characteristics. Applying structural equation modeling, we investigated our theorized path relationships between the major constructs of our research model. Findings: Our results suggested that the theorized context-specific nomological network around customer engagement can be validated in multi-sided platform settings. Hereby, customer engagement functioned as a strong predictor of user loyalty without being influenced by other relational constructs represented by relationship commitments. Additionally, a platform’s utility and especially its social experience embodied substantial factors that initially lead to customer engagement in the first place. Conclusion: Implications for this study contribute to both practitioners and scholars. While platform managers are guided with practical ideas to exploit customer engagement, the general literature of customer engagement is supported with a contextual study validating the applicability of the nomological network around customer engagement in the setting of multi- sided platforms.