Study of relationship quality dimensionality in the parcel delivery services market

Abstract

The article is organized in five parts. First part is introduction. In this part the research problem, the aim of this work and objectives are formulated. The aim of this work is as follows: after having analyzed an integrative model of determinants of key relationship marketing outcomes, to perform confirmatory factor analysis of the scale in order to assess if the same dimensions structure exists for parcel delivery services. The objectives of this work are: 1) to analyze T. Hennig-Thurau et al. (2002) model of determinants of key relationship outcomes, 2) to do survey of Lithuanian parcel delivery services consumers and to measure relationship quality using this instrument, 3) to perform confirmatory factor analysis in order to determine if dimensions structure of the model is the same for Lithuanian parcel delivery services. The problem solved in this paper is as follows: an integrative model of determinants of key relationship marketing outcomes was developed using a wide variety of services to expand the generalization therefore it is possible to examine context-specific relationships of a single service type. Moreover, it is not known if the same relationship quality dimensions exist in other than North-American cultural context such as Lithuanian culture. In the second part of this article relationship quality model suggested by T. Hennig-Thurau et al. (2002) is analyzed and research hypotheses are formulated. Hypotheses are formulated in order to test relationships between dimensions and their discriminant validity. In the third part of this work research methods are described. Confirmatory factor analysis process is analyzed. In the fourth part of this article the results of study are analyzed. Various goodness of fit statistics such as degrees of freedom and chi-square test, RMSEA, NFI, NNFI, PNFI, CFI, IFI, RFI, standardized RMR, GFI, AGFI, PGFI, D2, Fornell-Larcker test is analyzed in order to accept or reject hypotheses and to assess relationships between dimensions and discriminant validity of these dimensions. Nested models are compared with the original model and differences in goodness of fit statistics are examined. In the fifth part of this work final conclusions are formulated about model’s reliability and validity in parcel delivery services setting.