A study on business to business customer commitment and repurchase intention in the context of small and medium sized enterprises

This study examines the relationships between information sharing, courtesy, salesperson competence, satisfaction, normative and affective commitment and repurchase intention from the point of view of business to business (b2b) SME customers in Ankara, Turkey. The study uses relationship marketing and social exchange theory (SET) as theoretical basis. The data were collected from 230 people working as b2b SMEs in the province of Ankara with appropriate sampling techniques. In the analysis of the data, explanatory and confirmatory factor analyzes and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted by means of SPSS 26 and AMOS 21 programs. The results reflected the relatively high impact of knowledge sharing on satisfaction, while satisfaction was an important driver of normative and affective commitment. It has also been observed that affective commitment has a greater effect on customer repurchase intention than normative commitment. Commitment is one of the most frequently studied variables in b2b relationships, and many researchers argue that it is the main premise of customer loyalty. While the positive impact of affective commitment based on identification is well understood in the marketing literature, the role of normative commitment is not so well understood. This study supported the findings that a relationship based on normative commitment also leads customers to repurchase. In addition, it has been determined that satisfaction and affective commitment has a serial mediator role in the effect of salesperson competence, information exchange and courtesy on repurchase intention. It is possible that the results can be considered as a multidimensional construct for predicting customer repurchase intention and have implications for managers and academics.