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Researchers recognize that interpersonal relationships contribute to the career development of professional employees. The purpose of this paper is to extend this research to individuals working at a formative point in their careers. Guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory, a model is developed that tests whether the quality of individuals’ work relationships at an early career stage has implications for their development of career cognitions and career exploration behaviors.

Structural equation modeling is used to test the model in two samples of employed students (n=372 and n=166).

Coworker relationship quality had a direct influence on career self-efficacy, which led to increased career outcome expectations, goals and exploration behaviors. The influence of supervisor relationship quality was mixed across studies.

Findings suggest that the quality of individuals’ relational experiences at work, even at an early career stage, has implications that extend beyond the workplace to affect their careers more generally.

Results speak to the dangers associated with a poor interpersonal climate for employees at an early career stage, and suggest that managers invest in opportunities that allow these employees to build stronger bonds with coworkers. The results also suggest that career counselors and internship coordinators be sensitive to the interpersonal climate of organizations with whom they contract.

This study offers insight into the connection between early employment experiences and individuals’ career cognitions and career exploration behaviors.

While service quality, trust and commitment are frequently cited as critical to achieving important firm outcomes, the role of service differentiation in this framework is largely unknown. Yet, differentiation is important because a firm's distinctiveness is linked to client‐perceived value, competitive advantage, and a target market focus. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the role of service differentiation in business‐to‐business relationships.

Hypotheses were tested using a sample of business clients from a large European financial services firm. The senior primary contact in each client firm was contacted by phone/e‐mail to arrange for completion of the survey. Using the survey instrument, respondents provided information on their relationship with the provider organization.

Results indicated that service quality had an impact on trust, differentiation and relationship outcomes. Trust was found to drive service differentiation. Differentiation, in turn, drove commitment which ultimately had an impact on both satisfaction and word‐of‐mouth. Importantly, it was found that service differentiation is a full mediator of the impact that service quality and trust have on client commitment towards the firm.

The findings clearly show the importance of service differentiation in achieving high levels of relationship commitment and ultimately satisfaction and positive word‐of‐mouth. As the role of differentiation in business‐to‐business relationships has received limited research focus, this paper offers managers new insights into relationship development. Importantly, differentiation is a managerially controlled variable that firms can use to influence relationship outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the structural relationship between experiential loyalty and its seven drivers – interaction quality, physical environment quality, outcome quality, affective quality, experiential quality, experiential trust and experiential satisfaction in the context of Islamic banks.

The data used in this study were based on a convenience sample of 474 respondents from Jakarta, Bogor and Depok in Indonesia.

Interaction quality, physical environment quality and outcome quality positively influence experiential quality, which in turn, leads to experiential trust. Also, experiential trust has a positive influence on experiential satisfaction. Both experiential trust and experiential satisfaction are determinants of experiential loyalty.

The results will assist Islamic bank management in developing and implementing market-orientated service strategies to increase interaction quality, physical environment quality, outcome quality, affective quality experiential quality, experiential trust and experiential satisfaction in order to increase experiential loyalty.

This paper provides data that result in a better understanding of the relationships among interaction quality, physical environment quality, outcome quality, affective quality, experiential quality, experiential trust, experiential satisfaction and experiential loyalty in the context of Islamic banks.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate relational practices that can improve construction project outcomes in Malaysia.

Based on the literature review, a questionnaire was designed containing 14 relational practices that were identified and grouped under five relational norms. Using a survey questionnaire, data were collected from clients, consultants and contractors in Malaysia’s construction industry. In-depth interviews were conducted to validate the statistical findings.

When contracts are adjustable to address uncertainties, the projects concerned have better cost and quality outcomes. A better schedule outcome is correlated with coordinating and monitoring plans jointly. Open communication and sharing trustworthy project information have been found to produce better client-consultant and consultant-contractor relationships at the end of a project. When parties maintain a social relationship outside of a project, relationships between clients, contractors and consultants also improve significantly.

The findings are not easily generalisable due to the relatively small sample size, low response rate and the data being collected from only three regions in Malaysia.

Clients need to take the lead in adopting relational practices, as these may give rise to warmer relationships and better project outcomes. Showing too much commitment and flexibility may harm the project schedule because of the frequent changes.

This study found that the theory of relational contracting norms applies to Malaysia’s construction industry. The parties do not rely strictly on contract conditions but embrace role integrity, preserve relations and harmony to avoid relational conflict, and achieve their goals through proper means.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the possible influence of internal marketing (represented by internal market orientation (IMO)) on external customer outcomes (perceived service quality and customer satisfaction) through the mediating role of employees’ attitudes (job satisfaction, trust and commitment) that comprise relationship quality.

The authors employ a dyadic methodology, with 244 dyads (employee-the average of his/her three patients) at the outpatient services of five Spanish hospitals. The authors use structural equation modelling (EQS6.1) to test the relationships of the model.

The results corroborate the hypotheses proposed in the model, with the exception of the influence of IMO on commitment. Significant differences in some relationships, depending on the experience of the employee, are also corroborated.

The paper analyses one service activity in the same region. Only perceptual data are used to measure the variables of the model.

Service companies should consider IMO because it contributes to creating an excellent customer experience. Furthermore, managers should bear in mind their employees’ needs when taking decisions.

This paper contributes to the literature by demonstrating, for the first time, the mediating role of relationship quality in the influence of IMO on external outcomes. It is also the first paper in internal marketing to analyse the differences in the consequences of IMO according to employee tenure.

The study aims to develop and test a relationship-building model for green brands. It synthesizes findings on the consumer motives offered by green brands, with relationship marketing and branding literature to the specific context of green brands to build a parsimonious model testing the links amongst four relational benefits, i.e. confidence, socialization, self-expression and altruism; two relational mediators, i.e. satisfaction and relationship quality; three behavioural outcomes, i.e. word-of-mouth, expectation of continuity and cross-buying; and two moderators of the benefits-mediators relationship, i.e. environmental consciousness and relationship length.

Data are collected from consumers of three brands of natural cosmetic products, totalling 848 questionnaires. Structural equation modelling is used to test the hypothesized relationships across the three brands.

The results show that confidence benefit has the strongest influence on relationship quality, followed by self-expression and altruism. Relationships quality and satisfaction with the green brand have a significant impact on all three behavioural outcomes. Both environmental consciousness and length of the relationship moderate the hypothesized interrelationships.

A new set of relational benefits for the green context is suggested. Several future research opportunities are suggested.

The study offers suggestions for managers to leverage relationship benefits for relationship strengthening.

No previous work has studied in an integrated way the relationship benefits and mediators to model the consumer–green brand relationship. The study provides a better understanding of the antecedents of consumer loyalty towards green brands.

Research has shown that for young adults, marital attitudes (e.g., desire, importance, and expectation) are associated with relationship quality. However, how this association plays out for young adults of color is less known. Additionally, the influence of skin tone perception on the relationship between marital attitudes and relationship quality remains understudied. To explore these associations, the authors examined African American and Latinx young adults (N = 57, M_age = 20.71 years, SD = 1.28; 75.4% female) attending a Midwestern university. Exploratory results indicated that marital expectations were positively associated with relationship quality in that young adults who expected to marry one day, reported greater relationship satisfaction, commitment, and intimacy in their current relationships. Additionally, skin tone perception moderated the association between marital attitudes and relationship quality in two ways (i.e., between expectations and satisfaction and between importance and intimacy). Collectively, findings suggest that differing levels of marital attitudes and skin tone perception contributes to young adults’ perceptions of relationship quality. Considering these psychological factors of attitudes, skin tone perception, and relationship quality, together with systemic racial/ethnic discrimination, the authors discuss future research and practice considerations.

Usage of updated technology is continuously empowering customer relationship management (CRM) to be convenient and user friendly, where customers are kept engaged with knowledge and information. This enables them on decision-making and managing their portfolio, especially in mutual fund investments. To improve toward a positive decision, certain quality related variables needed to be considered. Thus, this study aims to estimate the mediation effect of relationship quality and outcome (RQO) between CRM and investment decision-making in mutual funds (MFD).

The descriptive study adopted the constructs from existing empirical literatures to conceptualize the model with three higher order constructs with 12 dimensions. Survey method is used, and with a structured questionnaire, a total of 323 mutual fund investors were approached using nonprobability criterion sampling technique, of which 262 relevant responses were considered for estimating the structural model. Smart PLS was used to establish the relationship of the constructs.

The result emphasizes a significant direct and indirect relationship indicating that investors are more inclined to MFD through technology-enabled CRM and RQO plays a vital role in explaining the direct relationship between CRM and MFD. The results of the study are in-line with the existing literature.

The study highlights that financial institutions must focus not only on technological diffusion but also needs to ensure quality service by providing knowledge and information during every access of transactions by customers, making them independent and confident during investments.

This study indicates how capacity efficiency, which is a part of service productivity, can be managed without affecting the outcome efficiency by incorporating technology in the place of human interaction during relationship acquiring and retaining process.

This paper seeks to investigate the effects of relationship benefits on relationship quality and aspects of service quality, namely technical and functional quality, and the subsequent influence on word‐of‐mouth behavior.

The paper reports results from a structural equation model that utilizes data from 591 consumers across a range of services.

The findings highlight the important role of relationship benefits in driving customer perceptions of technical, functional and relationship quality. While confidence, social and special treatment benefits drive technical and functional quality, it is only confidence benefits that drive relationship quality. Furthermore, it is found that functional and relationship quality drive word‐of‐mouth behavior.

The findings of this study contribute to the literature by showing the differential impact that relationship benefits have on quality – technical, functional, and relationship – and subsequently the effect that functional and relationship quality have on word‐of‐mouth behavior.

The paper provides firms with the knowledge needed to more effectively implement relationship‐marketing activities. As the service economy continues to grow, competition intensifies, and to ensure service excellence, firms need to establish strong relationships with their customers as the quality of the customer‐provider relationship can increase word‐of‐mouth behavior.

The paper empirically investigates the role of relationship benefits in enhancing perceptions of quality while also providing an analysis of the differential role of functional, technical, and relationship quality in enhancing customers' word‐of‐mouth intentions.

Past research has established a relationship between the perceptions of fairness in the division of household labor and relationship satisfaction. Varying according to gender and time, this relationship has been found with differing outcomes, including relationship satisfaction, relationship happiness, divorce, and sexual frequency. Although this relationship has been well studied, little research has focused on how this relationship is moderated by relationship status. According to the Second Demographic Transition Theory (SDT), as societies become more “modern,” cohabitation will become more prevalent, eventually becoming socially and culturally equivalent to marriage. As such, it is vital to ask how cohabitation and marriage differ, or if they differ at all. Therefore, this gap is explored by asking, “How do perceptions of the division of household labor affect married and cohabitating heterosexual couples’ relationship happiness and chance of separation?” In order to answer this question, the National Survey of Families and Households (Wave III) is analyzed, with outcomes focusing on relationship happiness and chance of separation. Results indicate that when married and cohabitating individuals experience similar levels of happiness with their partner’s housework, they also experience similar levels of relationship happiness and chance of separation, with relationship status not affecting the impact happiness with partner’s housework has on these relationship outcomes. This suggests that cohabitation and marriage may continue to become more similar overall.