The impact of relationship-oriented behaviors on firm financial performance in the restaurant industry

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study investigated how relationship-oriented behaviors of suppliers and customers affected financial performance of firms through three relationship performance outcome variables: (1) supplier relationship performance, (2) product and service quality performance, and (3) customer relationship performance. A mailed survey was used to collect data nationwide from 1,000 randomly selected restaurant owners and presidents in the United States. Results showed that relationship-oriented behaviors (i.e., supplier and customer relationship-oriented behaviors) positively and significantly affected relationship performance outcomes and in turn financial performance. Results supported the usefulness of the framework that synthesizes concepts of both business-to-business and business-tocustomer relationship marketing/management. Findings suggest that building relationships with suppliers and customers plays an important role in providing value to restaurant firms and stockholders such as suppliers and customers, leading to high financial performance of the firms. Furthermore, customer-related issues such as customer needs, customer complaints, and employees' interpersonal skills received the highest mean scores, implying that customer care should be the top priority in employee training.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• TABLE OF CONTENTS = III
• LIST OF FIGURES = V
• LIST OF TABLES = VI
• ABSTRACT = VII
• CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION = 1
• Purpose of the Study = 5
• Definitions of Terms = 6
• Dissertation Organization = 8
• CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW = 9
• Relationship Marketing/Management = 9
• Relationship-Oriented Behaviors = 11
• Relationship Performance Outcomes = 17
• Financial Performance = 21
• Proposed Model = 23
• Research Hypotheses = 25
• CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODS = 31
• Research Design = 31
• Instrument Development and Measures = 32
• Sample Selection = 40
• Pretest = 41
• Data Collection = 42
• Data Analysis = 43
• CHAPTER IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION = 48
• Demographic Description of the Sample = 48
• Preliminary Analyses = 50
• Second-Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis = 55
• First-Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis = 58
• Employee Training = 66
• Discussion = 68
• CHAPTER V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION = 73
• Summary of Research = 73
• Implications = 74
• Contribution of the Study = 78
• Limitations and Recommendations = 81
• Conclusions = 82
• APPENDIX A. SURVEY INSTRUMENT = 84
• APPENDIX B. ISU WEB-BASED TRAINING AND HUMAN SUBJECTS = 89
• APPENDIX C. KMO, BTS, KURTOSIS, AND SKEWNESS TESTS = 92
• APPENDIX D. CORRELATION MATRIX = 96
• REFERENCES = 99
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS = 116