Relational Benefits, Value, and Satisfaction in the Relationships Between Service Companies
Abstract
In the context of relationship marketing, it is of great importance for a company to identify elements that contribute most to value creation and thus to customer satisfaction. Among the value antecedents are relational benefits. Although relational benefits have been widely studied in the field of tourism business-to-consumer relationships, they have so far received little attention in the context of relationships between companies. Therefore, this article aims to analyze empirically a model that reflects the influence of different types of relational benefits received by the customer on relationship value and the impact thereof on customer satisfaction in the context of relationships between travel agents and their suppliers. As a result, we identify 3 types of relational benefits with unequal influence on relationship value. In particular, confidence benefits and special treatment benefits emerge as the main drivers of value in the relationship between the travel agency and its main service supplier. In turn, relationship value is a strong antecedent of customer satisfaction with the main supplier.
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Perceived value helps strengthen customer-firm relationships and improve customer loyalty.
“On the relationship quality path, research has shown that relational benefits contribute to the perceived value that customers receive from firms (e.g., Martin-Ruiz et al. 2008), which helps strengthen customer-firm relationships and improve customer loyalty (e.g., Gil-Saura et al. 2011; Ruiz-Molina et al. 2015).”
From Understanding and managing customer relational benefits in services: a meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Ruiz-Molina et al. 2015
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- Authors
- Ruiz-Molina, M.-E., Gil-Saura, I., & Moliner-Velázquez, B.
- Venue
- Journal of Relationship Marketing
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-01-02
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-15
- ISSN
- 1533-2667 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-2675
- OpenAlex
- W2100904882
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 2.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Relationship Marketing (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Service and Product Innovation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Governance and Management
- Keywords
- relationship benefits, relationship value, customer satisfaction, inter-firm relationships, travel agencies, service providers, confidence benefits, special treatment benefits, value creation, relationship marketing
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