Pro bono service sheds new light into commercial friendship

Providers of professional services, such as management consultants, marketing communication, and legal service firms recognize the importance of fostering long-term relationships between consultants and their clients. At a more sophisticated level, the relationship could be examined via the notion of ‘commercial friendships’. The notion suggests that both parties may derive the non-commercial value from a relationship formed for commercial reasons. However, how a non-commercial value of a business relationship is perceived by both the service providers and the clients is not well understood. In a professional service setting, providing skilled services at a reduced rate or free of charge for a client is considered a pro bono work. The value of these services remains unexplored in marketing literature. To address this gap, we conducted exploratory, qualitative research that examined the consultant–client relationship from the perspective of both individuals in a context of pro bono service.