The economic impact of relationship bonding tactics : a research agenda

Abstract

The shifting of the transactional marketing paradigm into relational marketing has been paid more attention, particularly concerning the need to trace what the relational dimensions are that can bring superior financial performance. The research on relational marketing that focuses on relation quality is one area of research that is being developed from the relational marketing perspective. Nevertheless, there are still few research projects that give a complete explanation of the impact of the relational quality (satisfaction, trust, commitment) on the company’s financial performance. Therefore, we need to explore and scrutinize the financial impact with respect to the relational quality of the company-customer relationship. The relational quality of the company-customer relationship is influenced by various customer-attracting tactics, which eventually have the potential to create a behaviour (the length of the relationship, cross purchase, up-grade, customer asset management (CUSAM)), as well as influencing a customer’s attitude (positive word of mouth (WOM), price insensitivity, a tendency to not move away to another company). This conceptual p33 aper is intended to retrace the financial impact (return on investment (ROI)) and the stakeholder’s value (Tobin’s Q) from the relationship bonding tactics with respect to the relationship quality and CUSAM through the development of a conceptual framework that is able to explain the phenomenon.