Managing Customer Relationship Quality in the Service Sector

Abstract

One of the goals of customer relationship management is to develop means by which organizations can motivate valuable customers to remain loyal. However, little is understood about the actual influences of the underpinnings of relationship marketing on relationship quality and customer loyalty from empirical evidence. The current study examines the impact of relational marketing keystones namely, trust, commitment, competence, communication and conflict handling on the quality of firm-customer relationship and customer loyalty, as well as the mediation effect of relationship quality. A total of 230 Malaysian customers participated in the survey. Findings, managerial and marketing implications are discussed.