Effect of Multiple Relationship Quality on New Product Adoption: An Abstract

Abstract

Researchers have studied relationship marketing in a variety of subdisciplines of marketing including service marketing, channel relationships, and business-to-business marketing. However, prior research has predominantly focused on interpersonal relationships between service providers and customers and business-to-business relationships, as opposed to relationships between firms (or marketers) and consumers, even though the existence of such relationships has been explicitly acknowledged (Dwyer et al. 1987; Webster 1992). In this light, the current study examines the possible impacts of relationship quality (as a consequence of relationship marketing efforts) on the likelihood of a consumer’s new product adoption. Specifically, two research questions are addressed: (1) “If a consumer develops trust in and commitment to a firm (or a marketer), then is he/she more likely to adopt a new product introduced by the same (focal) firm?” and (2) “How would relationship quality with competitors influence the likelihood of adopting new product introduced by a focal firm?” The main goals of the current study are (1) to empirically test the effect of multiple relationship quality on consumer’s new product adoption; and (2) to provide a theoretical rationale for extending relationship marketing to the consumer product area and outline a future research agenda.