The Role of Relationship Benefits in Building Brand Equity in a B2B Services Environment

Abstract

Although some academic authors have lamented the scant focus paid to building brand equity in B2B markets (Juntunen, Juntunen & Juga, 2011), recent studies have emphasised on the importance of understanding and building brand equity in this context (Coleman, De Chernatony & Christodoulides 2011; Kim & Hyun, 2011). At the same time that building brand equity has been gaining traction in the B2B marketing literature, so too has an increased focus on the importance of building strong relationships with customers. Despite the importance attached to relationships, and the benefits that customers perceive from these, the contribution of relationship benefits to building brand equity in the B2B environment has not been investigated. This study investigates the role of relationship benefits in predicting brand equity in a B2B services environment.