Preventing and Combating the Onset of Dark-Side Symptoms

Abstract

Relationship marketing (RM) has assumed a prominent role within the marketing domain. However, there is an emergent body of literature that claims that there is a dark side to the RM strategy. The dark side of RM implies that, in spite of all of RM's noted benefits, employing such a relational strategy can actually, over time, produce negative effects for firms and their partners. The present article addresses the next logical question, namely, given the inevitable emergence of the dark-side symptoms over time, what corrective strategies can the relational partners utilise to arrest this deterioration of their relationships. RM literature has frequently invoked the marriage metaphor to describe relational exchange partnerships. Not surprisingly, then, even though the metaphor is not perfect, this paper draws on the twin related literature streams of marriage counselling and marriage and relationship education to make recommendations about preventative and combative strategies for countering the onset of dark-side symptoms.