Impacts of relationship capabilities on business relationships’ effectivity

Abstract

AIM OF THE PAPER
The present study examines the relation between relational capability and relationship quality’s dimensions on business markets. Answer is being sought to how the changing practices’ embedded patterns of relationship behaviour influence the successfulness of the cooperation between organizations. In the current paper, organizational patterns of changes in relationship behaviour are studied from the viewpoint of dynamic abilities, while the successfulness of the cooperation between organizations is modelled by interorganizational loyalty. According to the assumptions, dynamic relational capabilities do not only mean an opportunity, but also a bottleneck from the point of the cooperation’s success. They also have a crucial effect on the assessment of relationship qualify and they also contribute to the partner’s loyalty.

METHODOLOGY
Drawing on the theoretical background of dynamic relational capability, we constructed a model, which was then tested with longitudinal studies. In the current study, the results of two-phased survey research project are presented, where the relation of dynamic relational capability and relationship qualify (trust, commitment, loyalty) is in the focus. In the first phase of the research, a random sample of605 companies in the Southern Great Plain were surveyed; then, in the second phase a sample of 304 entrepreneurs from the relevant population of Hungarian entrepreneurs was analysed.

MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
The results have confirmed that the improvement of relationship behaviour is a multi-level, interactive phenomenon, each level of which influences the successfillness of the cooperation in a different way.
The effect of each level of dynamic relational capability directly shapes the development of relationship qualify, also the trust and commitment dimensions of relationship qualify remarkably influence attitudinal loyalty. These results may provide new information for researchers dealing with business relations.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
For practitioners, our results show how crucial it is to develop and consistently control relationship capabilities, as well as to reveal the bottlenecks and to handle dynamic relational capabilities in a complex way. It is the interest of each organization to increase relationship success and to seek long-term relations.