Mediating effects of relationship quality on customer relationships: an empirical study in Hong Kong

Purpose – To build and test a model of customer relationships, with particular reference to the financial services sector, relating the perceived quality of the relationship to one antecedent and two long term consequences. Design/methodology/approach – Data collected by street interviews with 207 consumers of financial services in Hong Kong were analysed by the research tool for this study is a questionnaire‐based survey on the quality of financial services in Hong Kong. Customers were interviewed on the streets in the major commercial districts in Hong Kong and a total of 207 completed questionnaires were collected and subjected to factor analysis. The model was tested for goodness of fit and construct reliability. Findings – The findings confirm that there are significant relationships among relationship quality, information sharing, the expectation of continuing interaction and customers' willingness to recommend their service provider to others. Research limitations/implications – Future research should apply the model proposed in this study and the findings to other service sectors and other geographic locations, in order to enhance its generalizability. Practical implications – The study provides strong evidence that financial service providers need to cultivate good‐quality relationships with customers, especially through regular and open information sharing, in order to maintain them in the long‐term. Originality/value – The main contribution of this study is to demonstrate that relationship quality is a significant mediating variable between the antecedents and consequences of customer relationships. The expectation of a continuing relationship is also found to be strongly related to customers' willingness to recommend “their” service providers to others.