Attractiveness in Business Markets: Conceptualization and Propositions

Despite various mentioning of customer attractiveness in the literature, the concept is not defined and conceptualized. Including arguments from sociology and physics, this paper develops a definition and conceptualization of customer attractiveness. It is pointed out that attractiveness is determined by perceived value creation, perceived relationship characteristics and emotional attachment. Thus, the paper introduces feelings as an element into the business-to-business marketing literature which is an evolving theme in consumer marketing. The usefulness of the concept is discussed and further research questions are developed