Friends, Businesspeople, and Relationship Roles: A Conceptual Framework and a Research Agenda

Abstract

This article develops a conceptual framework of roles in marketing relationships. Drawing on emerging theory from economic sociology and March's (1994) notion of decision “logics,” the authors discuss two prototypical relationship roles, namely (1) a “friend,” who uses a “logic of appropriateness” and follows established rules, and (2) a “businessperson,” whose decisions are guided by utility-maximizing considerations under a “logic of consequences.” Next, they use extant theories of interfirm governance to suggest that firms’ relationship strategies can be used both to create different relationship roles in the first place and to activate them over time. The authors posit that activation can have several different outcomes, including reinforcement of an existing dominant role or actual switching to a new one. Theoretically, the conceptual framework allows for integration of different perspectives on interfirm relationships, some of which have provided seemingly inconsistent accounts of firm behavior. From a managerial perspective, the framework identifies specific matches between particular relationship roles on the one hand and firms’ governance strategies on the other hand. In general, the framework suggests that an in-depth understanding of roles is a prerequisite for the deployment of relationship management initiatives toward resellers, customers, and suppliers.