Title: Transforming nobody to somebody: Do transformational leadership and relationship marketing make a difference for sustainable marketing?

Authors: Nalin Abeysekera; Ananda Wickramasinghe

Addresses: Department of Management, Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala 10250, Sri Lanka. ' School of Management and Marketing, CQUniversity, 4702, Australia

Abstract: With a complex, dynamic and fiercely competitive business environment and consumerism, sustainable relationship marketing is a challenge that is critical for businesses. The concept of transformational leadership can be considered as the most influential over the last two decades in changing the ways that businesses are operating – in particular, in marketing their products, and attracting, delighting and retaining customers for the long run. This conceptual paper examines the relationship between transformational leadership and relationship marketing in the context of selling. In particular, the usage of trust and commitment used by both theories has been discussed extensively. Ultimately this study will try to link transformational leadership with relationship marketing while suggesting the use of these concepts side by side for better sustainable marketing.

Keywords: transformational leadership; relationship marketing; long-term relationships; selling; sustainable marketing; trust; commitment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTGM.2012.045575

International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, 2012 Vol.5 No.1, pp.31 - 42

Published online: 31 Dec 2014 *

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