Relationship Marketing and Customer Loyalty: The Moderating Effect of Relationship Duration, Strength, and Intensity

Abstract

Research shows that relationship marketing and customer loyalty are significantly correlated without considering the time or intensity dimension of the relationship. So, this study investigates whether relationship duration, strength, and intensity moderate the association between relationship marketing and customer loyalty in an emerging market. We adopt a quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional survey design to collect the data from 500 customers in the fund management industry of Ghana. We analyze the data using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression model. The results reveal that the four relationship marketing dimensions (i.e. trust, commitment, communication, and conflict handling) have a significant positive association with customer loyalty. Furthermore, relationship strength and intensity significantly augment and moderate the association between relationship marketing dimensions and customer loyalty. However, relationship duration could neither augment nor moderate the association between the relationship marketing dimensions and customer loyalty. We have made a significant contribution to literature by establishing the effectiveness of relationship strength and intensity as moderators on the association between relationship marketing dimensions and customer loyalty in the fund management industry of an emerging market.