دانلود رایگان مقاله هنجار ارتباط روابط مشتری شرکت اثر خالص پیکربندی

abstract

Relational norms as implicit rules of conduct have vital roles for the functioning of commercial and noncommercial relationships. This research further illuminates relational norms in customer–company relationships by examining antecedents that contribute to the development of relational norms and consequences that arise after a relational transgression. To test these effects, this research conducts a study with 198 customers of a financial services provider and analyzes the data using structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The results of this research offer new insights into the net effects and the configurational effects of relationship-quantity factors and relationship-quality factors for the development of relational norms. In addition, the findings of this research deepen the understanding of how relational norms relate to customers' reactions to relationship transgression by demonstrating amplifier and buffer effects.

5. Discussion

The study here further illuminates relational norms in commercial exchange relationships between individual customers and companies. The objectives of this research were twofold: (1) to identify and explain sources of relational norms development and (2) to examine the effects of relational norms on customer reactions to a relational transgression. Drawing on the distinction between factors of quantity and quality of relationships (Dagger et al., 2009), this research examined how relationship-quantity factors (i.e., relationship duration and contact frequency) and relationship-quality factors (i.e., satisfaction, commitment, and trust) influence relational norms. To examine the effects of these factors on relational norms, this research conducted a net effect analysis using SEM and a configurational effects analysis using fsQCA. While the findings of the net effects analysis indicate that of the five relationship factors only trust has a significant and positive effect on relational norms, the results of the configurational effects analysis indicates five distinct configurations of relationship factors sufficient for explaining relational norms. The five condigurations differ in their particular compositions, that is, the combination of presence, negation, and absence of relationship factors, but all represent consistenly sufficient routes to relational norms. This finding advances the extant body of knowledge because it points to equifinality and the perseverance of multiple realities for social phenomena, such as relational norms (e.g., Woodside, 2014). In addition, the results of the configurational effects analysis contribute to extant work by indicating valence reversals (Leischnig, Ivens, & Henneberg, 2015). Depending on how relationship factors combine to form a configuration, the presence or the negation of individual antecedent conditions can contribute to the outcome. The results reveal valence reversals for two of the five relationship factors (i.e., contact frequency and trust). For example, configuration 1 in Table 3 shows that the presence of a high relationship duration in combination with the presence of high commitment and the negation of high trust explains relational norms. Contact frequency and satisfaction have a subordinate role in this particular causal recipe. In contrast, configuration 4 shows that the combination of the negation of high contact frequency and the presence of all three relationship-quality factors contributes to relational norms. In configuration 4, relationship duration has a subordinate role.