Buffering and Amplifying Effects of Relationship Commitment in Business-to-Business Relationships

Using an assimilation and contrast framework, the authors assess the buffering and amplifying effects of relationship commitment on organizational buyers’ intentions to switch suppliers when a relationship is strained by the incumbent's own misbehavior. The results of three studies show that both calculative and affective commitment buffer incumbent suppliers against minor incidences of their own misbehavior but that affective commitment also reliably amplifies the adverse effects of an incumbent supplier's flagrant opportunism. Process tests indicate that buyer perceptions of supplier conformance to normative standards account for (completely mediate) the observed buffering and amplification effects in a manner consistent with the underlying assimilation and contrast framework.

• 저널Journal of Marketing Research · 47(2) · 361–373
• 토픽Customer Service Quality and Loyalty · Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
• DOI10.1509/jmkr.47.2.361
• 저자Shankar Ganesan, Steven P. Brown, Babu John Mariadoss, Hillbun Ho