Perceptions of relationship marketing among account managers of commercial banks in a Chinese environment

Abstract

Relationship marketing is widely regarded as effective in developing competitive advantage. But views on exactly what activities constitute relationship marketing may differ in various cultural settings. In‐depth interviews with account managers in commercial banks in Hong Kong yielded a list of activities considered critical to building relationships. In a following survey, account managers in Asian banks rated the importance of the various social activities higher than did account managers in Western banks, although all respondents were ethnic Chinese. The Western banks rated business activities more important than did the Asian banks. Factor analysis shows that managers in Western banks perceive dimensions of business activities consistent with recent thinking about relationship marketing. Respondents in the Asian banks do not view social activities and business activities to be distinct, nor do they distinguish strongly differentiated dimensions of business activity elements.

Citation

Lai Man So, S. and Speece, M.W. (2000), "Perceptions of relationship marketing among account managers of commercial banks in a Chinese environment", International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 7, pp. 315-327. https://doi.org/10.1108/02652320010359534