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The present study aims to examine the impact of relational communication, operationalized in terms of information sharing, quality and frequency of information, on buyer's trust and relationship satisfaction in a buyer–vendor relationship. The study also tests the mediating role of trust and the moderating role of relationship commitment in relational communication and satisfaction relationship.

The data for the study were collected through a questionnaire survey from 321 managers of the different firms who were directly or indirectly involved in making procurement or purchasing decision in the firm and were familiar with the firm's supplier relationships.

Relational communication was found to be positively related to relational satisfaction and trust partially mediated this relationship. Further, relationship commitment moderated relational communication-satisfaction relationship, such that the positive affect of relational communication on relational satisfaction was accentuated when buyer experienced higher relationship commitment towards the supplier.

Using single source, self-reported questionnaire data and cross-sectional research design are the limitations of this study. Studies in future should consider a dyadic perspective. The study outlines the need to explore investments and strategies in enhancing relational communication in buyer–vendor relationships.

Anchored in theoretical foundations of social exchange theory, the study integrates and tests behavioral aspects of buyer–vendor relationship. Testing an integrated model with direct and indirect effects of relational communication on relationship satisfaction in buyer–vendor is a significant contribution of the research. The study also contributes by examining relational exchanges in buyer-vendor relationships in India, an underrepresented context in buyer–supplier relationship (BSR) literature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of the influential factors of buyer satisfaction and loyalty toward online auction web sites and online auction sellers. Customers' loyalty toward the online auction web site and seller is also explored.

An internet survey is conducted on 221 buyers of online auction.

Loyalty intention toward an online auction seller positively affects a buyer's loyalty intention toward the online auction web site, whereas his/her loyalty intention toward the online auction web site negatively affects his/her loyalty intention toward the online auction seller.

The first is in its cross‐sectional design. Second, this paper examines the antecedents of the online auction web site and the online auction seller in a single country. The findings may have limited generalizability to other countries.

The results of this paper provide less positive news for online auction sellers. Sellers on an online auction web site should be careful in making online auction web site change decisions. Although a seller can secure buyer loyalty intention by providing strong e‐service quality, overall satisfaction and the specific asset investment (SAI), buyers still may not be enthusiastic about moving with the seller to another auction web site.

This paper contributes to comparing the pulling force of the web sites and the sellers, and explains that SAI can affect the buyers through web sites and sellers. There are three parties involved in the model.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the affective and cognitive dimensions of satisfaction that impact the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR) from the supplier's perspective and to consider satisfaction within the context of power-dependency theory.

Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 Chinese apparel supply professionals who regularly interact with apparel buyers. Audio or video interviews were conducted via WeChat (the most popular social media platform in China).

A thematic analysis of the interview data revealed that both affective and cognitive dimensions of satisfaction impact the BSR. A model of supplier affective and cognitive satisfaction in a collaborative BSR was developed to illustrate the connections between the two dimensions.

Due to intense competition in the market, supplier satisfaction is essential for building relationships in the apparel industry. Existing studies have focused on satisfaction from the perspective of the buyer rather than the supplier because in a BSR, the buyer tends to hold more power. Moreover, research has primarily considered cognitive evaluations of satisfaction with the BSR. This study offers new insight on both cognitive and affective satisfaction from the perspective of suppliers within the context of power-dependency theory.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between ethical climate and facets of job satisfaction among organizational buyers.

This research is an empirical study. Data are collected from the industrial buyers using online panel. The INDSALES scale, the scale developed to measure job satisfaction of boundary spanners, was used to measure the job satisfaction. Partial least squares, a components-based structural equation modeling approach, was employed to conduct data analysis.

The key finding was that buyer’s organizational policy mediates the relationship between buyers’ perception of ethical climate and buyers’ satisfaction with pay and promotion as well as satisfaction with coworkers and supervisors. The findings also show that work satisfaction can be achieved at different levels based on particular components associated to the work environment.

The role of ethical climate in this study offers insights into managers who constantly observe lower levels of job satisfaction among their buying team. Given that companies specify rules and regulations as a way to standardize employee behaviors and prevent unethical practices, managers must ensure that such codes specifically address issue pertaining to compensation, supervision and promotion.

Most of the previous studies in the business-to-business boundary spanning literature address ethical climate primarily from the salesperson’s perspective. Ethical issues relating to organizational buyers in business-to-business setting has largely gone underexplored. This research is one of the few studies that focus on industrial buyers and ethical issues.

This study aims to examine the satisfaction-loyalty framework on word-of-mouth communications (WOMC) and share-of-purchases in situations where business-to-business (b-t-b) buyers have a relationship with both the salesperson and the selling firm.

This study uses an online panel to examine respondents with b-t-b purchasing authority for their given firm. Lisrel 8.52 was used to examine the proposed structural model.

This study finds that satisfaction, loyalty and WOMC with regards to the salesperson directly impacts satisfaction, loyalty and WOMC with the selling firm, respectively. Also, the study finds that certain levels of buyer satisfaction and loyalty impact post purchase behavior and spending.

Several contributions emerge from the proposed model to advance relationships within b-t-b markets by examining methods in which salespeople can directly influence their company’s financial outcome in the form of increased customer spending; examining methods for increasing buyers’ WOMC; expanding the current body of knowledge examining the buyer–selling firm relationship as two unique, but related, relationships; and further revealing the dichotomy between consumer markets and b-t-b markets.

This research authenticates the need to examine satisfaction, loyalty and WOMC from a multi-level perspective in b-t-b environments. Further, the understanding of share-of-purchases is advanced.

This paper aims to explore how relational constructs (total interdependence, trust, commitment, cooperative norms and conflict) impact the buyer's relationship satisfaction across the relationship lifecycle.

Data were collected through mail survey from a sample of 162 Australian buyers. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to purify the measurement scales and multiple regression analysis techniques using dummy variables were used to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that interdependence and trust are associated with higher relationship satisfaction in the build‐up and maturity phases while commitment is associated with higher relationship satisfaction in the maturity phase. Unexpectedly, cooperative norms are found to drive relationship satisfaction in both the build‐up and maturity phases. Conflict, however, is not found to affect relationship satisfaction in the decline/deterioration phase.

A limitation of this study is the unequal sample size in each of the relationship phases. It would be desirable to run a model consisting of the five relational constructs for each of the three phases.

Literature has suggested that the effects of relational constructs on outcomes vary across relationship phases. While this notion has been established theoretically, there has been little attempt to measure it empirically. This paper provides an empirical test of the important, yet unexplored, question of how different relational constructs have different effects on buyer satisfaction depending upon the relationship phase.

The study explored the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion enterprises in the emerging markets. The moderating role of COVID-19 protocols implementations on buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction was further examined.

Buyer–seller interactions affecting customer satisfaction were divided into three constructs, namely, interactions relating to the overall customers shopping experience, smooth payment process and in-store interactions, and the COVID-19 protocols implementations were used as a moderator. A convenient sampling strategy was adopted to survey 450 customers of apparel fashion enterprises within the four regions in Ghana, of which 397 were validly used for the analysis. Existing questionnaires were adapted to collect data from the respondents. The data collected was therefore analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS programme to ascertain the nature of the relationships among the variables.

The study found that, in-store interactions, shopping experience and smooth payment processes directly influence customer satisfaction. However, the implementation of COVID-19 protocols failed to moderate the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction.

The limitations of the study involve its context-specific, focusing on the small apparel and fashion market. Also, future researchers can re-examine the model in other geographical jurisdictions, focusing on small apparel owners’ competencies and other variables that position buyer–seller interactions as precursors of customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion industry. The theoretical and managerial relevance of the findings are also discussed.

The paper extends the domain of buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction phenomena within the apparel fashion industry. Its examination of the impact of COVID-19 protocols’ implementation on customer satisfaction provides an insight into managers regarding how the applications can affect customers in a typical shopping environment.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on building and testing a model of buyer‐seller relationships from a dialectical perspective. It aims to provide both academics and managers with a better understanding of the relationships among the key relational variables in business settings. The model distinguishes four levels of social complexity (individual, interaction, relationship, and intergroup level) and includes the key relational variable for each level.

Data were collected from 151 French professional buyers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity of the measures. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. The empirical test includes linear, non‐linear, moderating, and mediating effects testing.

The limitations of the study relate to the sample of respondents and the measurement scales. More precisely, the sample is based on a unique company's customer data file and a single informant source. Results confirm the hypothesized model and its four‐level structure.

This study demonstrates that buyer relational orientation as well as seller expertise influence the course of business relationships. Although the necessity to train salespeople is obvious, the importance of training buyers is not as well documented. This study shows that they both need to be trained to manage business relationships appropriately.

This research examines the relationships among the key relational variables within a framework of four successive levels of explanation. It provides an alternative approach to studying business relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to design, develop, implement and validate a multi-criteria decision model for measuring supplier satisfaction through a case study.

A three-stage methodology was used to develop a framework to measure supplier satisfaction. The framework involved factors and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from literature and exploratory study. Further, using the framework, a multi-dimensional decision model to calculate Supplier Satisfaction Index was developed. The proposed decision framework was implemented as a real-world case study in an Indian manufacturing organization.

The study makes two major contributions: first, it develops a framework to measure supplier satisfaction using factors and KPIs suitable to the buyer organization; second, the model developed to calculate supplier satisfaction helps in understanding overall satisfaction of suppliers along with the level of satisfaction of each supplier. The model can also be used to suggest improvements to buyer organizations on specific factors and KPIs under each factor.

Supplier satisfaction plays an important role in multinational companies (MNCs), so the sample of practitioners considered in this study is relevant. However, it is likely that the small sample size of only suppliers and companies selected solely from the Indian manufacturing MNCs may have introduced some bias.

A comprehensive framework for enhancing the relationship with suppliers will be instrumental in deciding, managing and improving the level of supplier satisfaction.

This approach provides purchase managers with the flexibility of selecting factors and KPIs at every level of analysis and also a single index to establish supplier’s satisfaction with a buyer company.

This study incorporates two Chinese cultural variables guanxi (personal relationship) and xinyong (personal trust) with other relational variables that are well defined in the west, i.e. supplier competence, commitment, conflict handling and satisfaction to see how they generate partnership relationship in a sino‐western relationship marketing context.

Research objectives are achieved through a combination of model building, quantitative design, testing of hypotheses using AMOS and analysis of findings. The subject scope is imbedded within cultural impact on relationship marketing in a sino‐western context.

This study finds that Western suppliers must be competent in product knowledge, market development, and adaptation to buyers' requirements to resolve conflicts in order to establish their xinyong with the buyers. Competence allows suppliers to show psychological commitment and establish guanxi with the buyers. It also shows that guanxi has a stronger influence on xinyong than on satisfaction. Suppliers should use guanxi to generate buyer's perception on xinyong whilst maintaining a reasonable level of buyer satisfaction with their products and services. Also, relationship between xinyong and satisfaction is not significant. A buyer's satisfaction on the supplier's product and services does not necessarily mean that this buyer perceives the supplier having xinyong because Chinese mix (up) business with personal relationships together and sometimes they make trade‐off between them!

This relationship study was conducted in a single‐product relationship context within the clothing industry in the PRC environment and therefore, its findings may not be generalised to other industry. Future Chinese relationship study should increase the sample size so as to cover more industries to allow comparison across industries. This is especially valid between a manufacturing and a service‐based industry. A service‐based industry may even emphasize more on guanxi and xinyong because of its intangible aspects! Future research should include the xinyong constructs, the concepts of face and reciprocity. To what extent these important Chinese cultural values affect satisfaction and xinyong have not been determined.

Effective conflict handling skills and guanxi are vital to formulate a xinyong positioning strategy. A supplier must be competent in product knowledge, market development skills, and adapt to a buyer's requirements to resolve conflicts with the buyer to establish xinyong.

This research is an initial attempt to establish the relationship between guanxi, xinyong and partnership relationship and generates a new research area in Chinese relationship marketing.