How relationship value and quality motivate positive word-of-mouth behaviour

Abstract

PurposeThis paper explores the reasoning surrounding relationship value and quality, and further provides a blueprint on how positive word-of-mouth behaviour can be promoted through different routes.Design/methodology/approachSurvey strategy was employed with focus on quantitatively developed questionnaires. Informants were recruited through mall intercept. All diagnostic tests, path analyses and, by implication, research hypotheses were conducted using the SEM-PLS technique.FindingsAll the hypothesized relationships were supported. Relationship value directly relates to trust, satisfaction and word-of-mouth behaviour. Value was also indirectly related to word-of-mouth behaviour through the relationship quality construct, but trust stood-out as a better mediator. Trust and satisfaction also came out as antecedents of positive word-of-mouth behaviour.Research limitations/implicationThe relationship between relationship value and the relationship quality construct remains largely under-researched in literatures. This paper serves as a springboard for future research projects to extend understanding on how both constructs interact especially in a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) level. In addition, the paper offers a comprehensive insight on the behaviour of the relationship quality construct when it is tested as a mediator in a causal–effect model.Practical implicationsThis study holds that by engineering superior value, a telecom provider is better positioned to build a sound relationship quality network and stimulate positive word-of-mouth through different routes.Originality/valueGiven the dearth of research on this area, this paper represents the first attempt to map out relationship value as an antecedent of relationship quality and word-of-mouth behaviour on a B2C level, and simultaneously explore the direct and indirect behaviour of both constructs in promoting word-of-mouth behaviour in a non-Western setting.