Purpose

This study explores a seller’s perspective in business relationships to validate whether the findings reported in previous studies based on buyer business relationships apply to seller business relationships. The purpose of this study is to test whether satisfaction functions as a connector between positive antecedents (trust and commitment) and negative postcedents (opportunism and conflict) in a business-to-business (B2B) relationship, based on a seller perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

A descriptive research design was applied and data was collected from Norwegian companies from the database of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator. Respondents (Sales or Marketing Managers/Directors or Key Account Managers) were asked to identify one main business customer with whom they had interacted in the past year. A total of 213 responses could be used for data analysis. In addition, the measurement and structural models were assessed.

Findings

Trust was established as a positive alter ego of opportunism and opportunism as a negative alter ego of trust. The commitment was also determined to be a positive alter ego of conflict, with conflict being a negative alter ego of commitment. Furthermore, it was proven that alter egos are not opposites, but facets of antecedents and postcedents in relation to a connector, satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

The tested model endorses the hypothesised relationships between trust, commitment, satisfaction, opportunism and conflict in Norwegian B2B relationships. Satisfaction is linked to its two antecedents and its outcomes and the hypothesised relationship between opportunism and conflict is also endorsed from a seller’s perspective in B2B relationships.

Practical implications

The findings can assist the B2B industry to understand how trust and commitment foster satisfaction, how satisfaction influences opportunism and conflict, and how opportunism relates to conflict in a seller-business relationship.

Originality/value

No previous study has focussed on relationship marketing in B2B relationships from a seller’s perspective to establish whether satisfaction functions as a connector between trust and commitment and opportunism and conflict.

中文翻译：

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卖方-业务关系中满意度的前因和后因：​​积极和消极的另一个自我

目的

本研究探讨了卖方在业务关系中的观点，以验证先前基于买方业务关系的研究报告的结果是否适用于卖方业务关系。本研究的目的是基于卖方的角度来测试满意度是否在企业对企业 (B2B) 关系中充当积极前因（信任和承诺）和消极后因（机会主义和冲突）之间的连接器。

设计/方法/方法

应用了描述性研究设计，并从 LinkedIn 的 Sales Navigator 数据库中收集了来自挪威公司的数据。受访者（销售或营销经理/董事或大客户经理）被要求确定他们在过去一年中与之互动的一个主要业务客户。共有 213 条回复可用于数据分析。此外，还评估了测量和结构模型。

发现

信任被确立为机会主义的积极的另一个自我，机会主义被确立为信任的消极的另一个自我。承诺也被确定为冲突的积极的另一个自我，冲突是承诺的消极的另一个自我。此外，事实证明，另一个自我不是对立面，而是与连接符、满意度相关的前因和后因的方面。

研究限制/影响

测试模型支持挪威 B2B 关系中信任、承诺、满意度、机会主义和冲突之间的假设关系。满意度与其两个前因及其结果有关，机会主义与冲突之间的假设关系也从卖方的角度在 B2B 关系中得到认可。

实际影响

调查结果可以帮助 B2B 行业了解信任和承诺如何促进满意度、满意度如何影响机会主义和冲突，以及机会主义如何与卖方-业务关系中的冲突相关联。

原创性/价值

以前没有研究从卖方的角度关注 B2B 关系中的关系营销，以确定满意度是否作为信任与承诺与机会主义与冲突之间的连接器。