Determinants of business-to-business relationship quality in a financial services context

Building and maintaining business relationships is becoming increasingly important as organisations seek to improve their competitive advantage by entering long-term relationships with strategic business partners. It is suggested that the quality of the relationship determines the likelihood of maintaining an ongoing relationship between buyers and sellers. Research in the area of business-to-business relationship quality is still in its infancy with limited agreement of the dimensions of relationship quality or even the definition of relationship quality in a business-to-business context. The aim of this Interpretivist study, set in the financial services industry in Australia, was to develop an understanding of what participants in a dyadic business relationship perceive to be the attributes of a high quality relationship. Methodologically the research took a case study approach to the collection of primary data through the use of open-ended depth interviews. Epistemologically the research derived categories and concepts from the social actors engaged in the mutually constructed social reality of the business relationship dyad. This formed the basis for understanding the quality concept by describing relationship-based activities and meanings. The findings indicate that some dimensions of relationship quality are identified dyadically whereas other dimensions are buyer or seller specific. Some dimensions of relationship quality suggested by the literature emerged from the data generated for this study, while others were previously unidentified, including good product, reciprocity, face-to-face contact, problem resolution, efficiency of service, staff consistency, business support and hierarchy of contacts. The findings suggest four implications for professional practice: the need for face-to-face contact; the importance of establishing a hierarchy of contacts across the business relationship; the suggestion that relationship quality is a continuum rather than a destination; and the suggestion that problem resolution may be a catalyst for relationship strength