The impacts of customer involvement on the relationship between relationship quality and performance

Purpose: This paper aims to determine whether relationship quality should be measured as a disaggregated or as a composite construct, and investigate the causal relationship between relationship quality and customer involvement. The authors also explore the role of customer involvement in relationship quality-performance linkage in B2B settings. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on 214 Chinese manufacturers and uses the structural equation model to examine this conceptual model and hypotheses. Findings: As a reflective second-order construct, relationship quality not only has positive effects on performance but also positively affects customer involvement. More importantly, customer involvement partially mediates the relationship between relationship quality and performance. Research limitations/implications: This study only focuses on customer relationship, but neglects the supplier relationship. Practical implications: When assessing the relationship quality with customers, suppliers must consider trust, commitment and investment dimensions simultaneously. In addition, to increase performance, suppliers must involve customers who are trusted and invested in training and logistics facility and then cooperate with them in new product design. Originality/value: These findings contribute to this understanding on the relationship quality in B2B settings and provide theoretical contributions and managerial insights for both academics and practitioners.