Effectiveness Of Relationship Marketing Tactics In A University Setting

Abstract

We test the correlation between student perception of three university relationship-building tactics - commercial friendships, preferential treatment, and tangible rewards - with university student satisfaction. We also test whether two student characteristics - enduring involvement with education and sense of entitlement - have a moderating effect on the aforementioned relationship between university relationship-building behaviors and student satisfaction. Results revealed positive correlations between perceived relationship tactics and overall satisfaction. Correlations between the relationship-building behaviors and satisfaction were also greater among high-involvement students than among their lesser-involved cohorts. Students who felt a sense of entitlement were more likely to believe that they were recipients of relationship-building behaviors, but they didn’t always appreciate them more than students who felt less entitled.