Consumer complaint behaviour and relationship marketing: a research agenda

A void identified within the Relationship Marketing literature is the lack of research on dissatisfactory or problem relationships, so the utilisation of work that has been conducted in the area of Consumer Complaint Behaviour (CCB) is appropriate. Therefore, this paper identifies ways in which the CCB literature may be used to advance knowledge in the field of Relationship Marketing. As the context of this paper is consumer - service provider relationships, an assessment is made of some of the implications of technology-infusion in service encounters, at two levels, namely at the broad relationship marketing level, that is, the likely impact of technology infusion on consumer - service provider relationships, and then more specifically regarding implications for CCB.

Relationship marketing and pay TV: satisfaction, complaining behavior, service recovery, and repurchase

The aims of this research included demonstrating the detenninants of Pay TV subscriber satisfaction, and displaying the relationships between key aspects of relationship marketing, such as perceptions of value, satisfaction, customer complaint behavior and service recovery, and the intention to repurchase. A survey of 171 Australian respondents suggested that the perceived quality of the variety of the programs available and the perceived quality of the monthly program guide were major contributors to value, and that value was the main driver of overall satisfaction, which in tum was the main driver of the likelihood of disconnection from the Pay TV service. Those respondents who reported having a problem but not complaining directly about it were significantly more likely to have the intention to disconnect in the future, but they were not significantly different in tenns of their value perceptions or overall satisfaction.

Conceptualising the role of reciprocity in relationship marketing : an examination of its supporting virtues

One possible “kind” of marketing relationship occurs where a norm of reciprocity is upheld. The norm states that “we should return good for good, in proportion to what we receive; we should resist evil, but not do evil in return; we should make reparation for the harm we do;...furthermore that obligations should be felt in retrospect” (Becker, 1990, p.4). The appeal of this kind of exchange is that it provides the participants with traits that enable them to pursue excellence in moral behaviour. Making the assumption that societal goal is good moral citizenship; this could be the perfect relationship. It is therefore a good starting point toward examining other types. However, “Reciprocity, taken by itself is insufficient for its own purposes” (Becker, 1986, p.150). It relies on a number of supporting virtues. This paper builds on previous work that conceptualises the role of reciprocity in relationship marketing by examining these virtues. For the norm to effectively stabilize marketing relationships it relies on the presence of other virtues, these include, generosity, conviviality, empathy, and practical wisdom (Becker, 1986). These traits are explored within the context of reciprocity and supporting relationship marketing literature.

Some insights for a relationship marketing model integrating SERVQUAL and customer loyalty in dental clinics

The demand of new services, the emergence of new business models, insufficient innovation, underestimation of customer loyalty and reluctance to adopt new management are evidence of the deficiencies and the lack of research about the relations between patients and dental clinics. In this article we propose the structure of a model of Relationship Marketing (RM) in the dental clinic that integrates information from SERVQUAL, Customer Loyalty (CL) and activities of RM and combines the vision of dentist and patient. The first pilot study on dentists showed that: they recognize the value of maintaining better patients however they don't perform RM actions to retain them. They have databases of patients but not sophisticated enough as compared to RM tools. They perceive that the patients value "Assurance" and "Empathy" (two dimensions of service quality). Finally, they indicate that a loyal patient not necessarily pays more by the service. The proposed model will be validated using Fuzzy Logic simulation and the ultimate goal of this research line is contributing a new definition of CL.

Understanding relationship marketing from the customer's perspective

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Relationship marketing in Latin American context: Implications for small Finnish software companies in Latin American B2B partnerships

After a productivity decrease of established national export industries in Finland such as mobile and paper industries, innovative, smaller companies with the intentions to internationalize right from the start have been proliferating. For software companies early internationalization is an especially good opportunity, as Internet usage becomes increasingly homogeneous across borders and software products often do not need a physical distribution channel. Globalization also makes Finnish companies turn to unfamiliar export markets like Latin America, a very untraditional market for Finns. Relationships consisting of Finnish and Latin American business partners have therefore not been widely studied, especially from a new-age software company’s perspective. To study these partnerships, relationship marketing theory was taken into the core of the study, as its practice focuses mainly on establishing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders at a profit, so that the objectives of all parties are met, which is done by a mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises. The most important dimensions of relationship marketing were identified as trust, commitment and attraction, which were then focused on, as the study aims to understand the implications Latin American business culture has for the understanding, and hence, effective application of relationship marketing in the Latin American market. The question to be answered consecutively was how should the dimensions of trust, commitment and attraction be understood in business relationships in Latin America? The study was conducted by first joining insights given by Latin American business culture literature with overall theories on the three dimensions. Through pattern matching, these insights were compared to empirical evidence collected from business professionals of the Latin American market and from the experiences of Finnish software businesses that had recently expanded into the market. What was found was that previous literature on Latin American business culture had already named many implications for the relationship marketing dimensions that were relevant also for small Finnish software firms on the market. However, key findings also presented important new drivers for the three constructs. Local presence in the area where the Latin American partner is located was found to drive or enhance trust, commitment and attraction. High-frequency follow up procedures were in turn found to drive commitment and attraction. Both local presence and follow up were defined according to the respective evidence in the study. Also, in the context of Finnish software firms in relationships with Latin American partners, the national origins or the foreignness of the Finnish party was seen to enhance trust and attraction in the relationship

Visitor relationship orientation of destination marketing organisations

The proposition underpinning this study is engaging in meaningful dialogue with previous visitors represents an efficient and effective use of resources for a destination marketing organization (DMO), compared to above the line advertising in broadcast media. However there has been a lack of attention in the tourism literature relating to destination switching, loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) to test such a proposition. This paper reports an investigation of visitor relationship marketing (VRM) orientation among DMOs. A model of CRM orientation, which was developed from the wider marketing literature and a prior qualitative study, was used to develop a scale to operationalise DMO visitor relationship orientation. Due to a small sample, the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method of structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Although the sample limits the ability to generalise, the results indicated the DMOs’ visitor orientation is generally responsive and reactive rather than proactive.

In pursuit of tourism destination brand loyalty : visitor relationship management orientation of destination marketing organisations

The proposition underpinning this study is engaging in meaningful dialogue with previous visitors represents an efficient and effective use of resources for a destination marketing organization (DMO), compared to above the line advertising in broadcast media. However there has been a lack of attention in the tourism literature relating to destination switching, loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) to test such a proposition. This paper reports an investigation of visitor relationship marketing (VRM) orientation among DMOs. A model of CRM orientation, which was developed from the wider marketing literature and a prior qualitative study, was used to develop a scale to operationalise DMO visitor relationship orientation. Due to a small sample, the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method of structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Although the sample limits the ability to generalise, the results indicated the DMOs’ visitor orientation is generally responsive and reactive rather than proactive.

A Relationship Mediated Theory of Internal Marketing (summary section only)

This report presents a new theory of internal marketing. The thesis has developed as a case study in retrospective action research. This began with the personal involvement of the author in an action research project for customer service improvement at a large Australian retail bank. In other words, much of the theory generating ‘research’ took place after the original project ‘action’ had wound down. The key theoretical proposition is that internal marketing is a relationship development strategy for the purpose of knowledge renewal. In the banking case, exchanges of value between employee participants emerged as the basis for relationship development, with synergistic benefits for customers, employees and the bank. Relationship development turned out to be the mediating variable between the learning activity of employee participants at the project level and success in knowledge renewal at the organisational level. Relationship development was also a pivotal factor in the motivation and customer consciousness of employees. The conclusion reached is that the strength of relationship-mediated internal marketing is in combining a market focused commitment and employee freedom in project work to achieve knowledge renewal. The forgotten truth is that organisational knowledge can be renewed through dialogue and learning, through being trustworthy, and by gaining the trust of employees in return.