Relationship Strength and Quality in Industrial Services: A Global Empirical Study

This paper presents the results of an empirical study that examines factors driving relationship strength and relationship quality between buyers and suppliers of industrial services. The primary objective of the study is to develop an explanatory model anchored on relationship strength that is comprehensive and globally relevant, while reflecting both the instrumental/economic and relational determinants of strength. The choice of relationship strength and quality is made because of their well documented ties to buyer patronage and relationship profits. Yet despite the attention paid to the subject, little empirical research has been devoted to understanding what drives these outcomes. Of the existing studies, few examine enough variables and their interrelationships to provide marketing practitioners with a useful, predictive model. Moreover, the direction of research is guided by independent theoretical frameworks. One strain of literature suggests that researchers frame their models along economic or instrumental dimensions while another argues for models to be anchored on relational factors. As a result, studies in this area are fragmented across multiple literature domains.