This study provides an understanding on how Relationship Quality is conceptualised in
business-to-business marketing relationships. It investigates the relationships of
Jordanian Banks with their small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) customers in
terms of Commitment, Satisfaction, Trust, Communication, Transparency,
Understanding, and Cooperation. It examines the antecedents and outcomes of the
quality of corporate customer relationships by developing a conceptual model which
empirically tests this relationship.
This research builds and validates a research model based on the literature survey and
uses a mixed methods approach. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth
interviews to achieve the goal of refining the initial research model. The second stage is
a quantitative empirical study that uses a questionnaire and tests the empirical model
generated in the first stage. This integration of methods provides a more complete view
of this emerging area of marketing theory.
Using Structural Equation Modelling; research findings support the use of a secondorder
relationship quality construct consisting of Trust, Commitment, and Satisfaction
as a direct outcome of a relationship and is named ¿Attitudinal Loyalty¿. Antecedents
including; Transparency, Communication, Understanding and Cooperation were found
to have a positive impact on relational outcome in a business-to-business context in
Jordan. The importance of Transparency emerged as one of the most significant
determinants of Relationship Quality, which is considered to be a new finding and not
common among previous studies. Communication appears to make the biggest
contribution overall and have direct and indirect relationships with other variables. It is
therefore a major source of success in a business relationship.
This research has several implications for the theory and practice. An important issue is
the affects on change management. It requires the establishment of business
communications to strengthen existing relationships and to form new ones. This implies
developing an interactive approach with other parties. This study gives the banking
industry an insight for developing their marketing strategy. It also provides a tool to
assess the portfolio of relationships, which helps in targeting specific customers.
Furthermore, Transparency in the flow of information imposes cultural change.
Studying the Jordanian market can help to provide an insight into an emerging
economy. Several qualitative findings showed that the relationship between banks and
their small and medium enterprises is interesting. All this enriches and adds to the
originality of this work and contributes to existing theory by investigating how
relationships between partners can be enhanced. / Al-Balqa ' Applied University
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/4883 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Alnsour, Muhammed S. |
| Contributors | Wallace, James, Cornelius, Nelarine |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, School of Management |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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