Restraining The Dissolution Of Faltering Exchange Relationships: The Influence Of Relationship Trust And Switching Barriers On Customer Complaining, Loyalty, And Defection

Abstract

Notwithstanding the advantages conferred by relational exchange, few buyer-seller relationships survive changes in the needs, expectations, or satisfaction levels of exchange partners indefinitely. In order to investigate the role that barriers play in restraining relationship dissolution after a service failure, a relationship dissolution model in which relationship trust and switching barriers are represented as exogenous predictors of relationship dissolution behaviors was developed and tested.  Results suggest that switching barriers, and to a lesser extent relationship trust, influenced customer complaining, loyalty, and defection following a core service failure.  However, when sellers restrained relationship dissolution by imposing economic costs on buyers, longer-term customer loyalty was reduced.  Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.