This research explores the impact of interactive communication on business-to business
(B2B) relationships. In the past decade the internet and especially social media as a mode of communication has grown rapidly in both consumer and business markets.
Drawing on marketing channels and communications literature this paper identifies the
dimensions of interactive communication and develops a theoretical framework to
examine their impact on satisfaction, commitment, and advocacy. Media synchronicity
theory and the concept of the internet as an alternative to the real world are used to
distinguish between digital and non-digital modes of communication. Relationship
marketing is used to identify the dimensions of interactivity: rationality, social
interaction, contact density, and reciprocal feedback. The framework developed is usedto explore the influence of face-to-face (F2F), digital, and traditional, impersonalcommunications on the dimensions of interactivity.Hypotheses linking the mode of communication: personal, digital, and impersonal with the dimensions of interactivity and relational outcomes are empirically examined with data from the commercial printing and graphic design industry. Confirmatory Factor Analysis is used to analyze the measurement and structural model. Personal, F2F communication has the greatest impact on social interaction, reciprocal feedback, and number of contacts. Digital communication has a weaker effect on these dimensions and impersonal communication has the weakest effect. Personal and Digital have equal impacts on rationality and rationality is the only dimension of interactivity positively associated with relationship satisfaction. Contact density has a negative impact on relationship satisfaction and this negative impact is greater with personal communication that it is with digital. The study shows that affective commitment leads to advocacy in a B2B channel, but trust and calculative commitment have no impact on advocacy. The findings of the study have implications for both managers and researchers regarding the mode and content of communications in B2B relationships. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_13084 |
| Contributors | Murphy, Micah (author), Sashi, C. M. (Thesis advisor), College of Business (Degree grantor), Department of Marketing |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 124 p., Online Resource |
| Rights | All rights reserved by the source institution, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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