Measuring B2B Relationship Quality in an Online Context: Exploring the Roles of Service Quality, Power, and Loyalty

Abstract

Relationship Quality has emerged as an important lens in which to investigate the value of B2B relationships. It has recently been highlighted that while the relationship marketing paradigm has become a mainstay of marketing practice and research, its application in the emerging web services industry has been minimal despite its potential. The operationalization of this higher-order construct shows conflicting consensus on which dimensions make up RQ. The directional link between RQ and other relationship concepts such as loyalty is also unclear and under-researched. This paper theoretically and empirically examines the role of RQ as a determinant of loyalty in an online B2B context. Using a data set from the web services industry, an understudied industry in its own right, the analysis, using structural equation modelling, shows support for service quality and power as additional RQ components. The findings suggest that different aspects of RQ namely, trust, commitment, satisfaction, and power show significant links to differing aspects of loyalty. Trust and satisfaction impact advocacy (attitudinal loyalty) whereas commitment and power show a significant impact on willingness to pay more for web solution services (behavioral loyalty). Facets of these relationships are explored and managerial implications are highlighted.