Title: META-RELQUAL in business relationships: a sales perspective

Authors: Nils M. Høgevold; Göran Svensson; Pierre Mostert; Mariëtte Zietsman

Addresses: Institute of Marketing, Kristiania University College, PB 1155 Sentrum, 0107 Oslo, Norway ' Institute of Marketing, Kristiania University College, PB 1155 Sentrum, 0107 Oslo, Norway ' Department of Marketing Management, Economics and Management Sciences Building, University of Pretoria, Room 4-128, Lynnwood Road, Hillcrest, Pretoria, South Africa ' Department of Marketing Management, Economics and Management Sciences Building, University of Pretoria, Room 4-128, Lynnwood Road, Hillcrest, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract: The objective is to use insights gained from studies that have tested and retested META-RELQUAL based on a buyer-business relationships to establish whether META-RELQUAL is valid and reliable within a business sales' context. A survey based on a cross-industrial sample of salespeople in Norwegian companies yielded a valid response rate of 40.7%. The results from this study indicate that META-RELQUAL is also valid under Norwegian salespeople within business relationships. The construct of META-RELQUAL tested in this study enables the corporate verification of both the buyer and sales perspectives in ongoing business relationships. Suggestions for further research are provided. This study contributes by successfully testing META-RELQUAL within a sales context as opposed to multiple previous studies focusing on a buyer perspective.

Keywords: relationship marketing; sales perspective; relationship quality; META-RELQUAL; social exchange theory; SET; transaction cost analysis; TCA; business relationships.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2021.114717

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2021 Vol.23 No.4, pp.472 - 497

Received: 24 Jan 2019
Accepted: 08 Jun 2019

Published online: 04 May 2021 *

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