Antecedents and successors of relationship quality in industrial markets

Industrial markets which play an important role in development of a country are the kind of markets in which long-lasting and qualified relations are preferred. Determining the antecendents which affect the quality of long-term relationships between buyers and sellers in industrial markets forms the main aim of this study. In this study, the direct effects of trust, service quality, firm reputation and similarity on this relationship quality; indirect effects of these on commitment and the effects of relationship quality on commitment are analyzed. With the aim of searching if the similarity between people affect the relationship quality and commitment, the effect of similarity on these items is analyzed. Results of the study revealed that there are significant relations between relationship quality and commitment. The variable of similarity is reduced to three factors which are job perception similarity, social similarity and intellectual similarity and relations between these and relationship quality and commitment are found insignificant. The effect of trust on relationship quality is found significant and positive, but the effect of trust on commitment is found to be insignificant. The results of the study has shown that the effects of service quality and reputation on relationship quality and commitment are insignificant; but there is a strong relation between relationship quality and commitment. Keywords: Industrial markets, trust, service quality, firm reputation, similarity, relationship quality, commitment