Dominik Ebinger

2021

In recent years, a gradual shift from traditional transaction-based marketing has been observed in business-to-business settings. The concept of relationship marketing (RM), which emphasizes drivers and outcomes of relational bonds, has been receiving increased attention. Within this concept, relationship quality (RQ) is the measurement of relationship strength, which forms the foundation of beneficial outcomes for business partners. A strong relationship is especially crucial in international business due to distances between business partners and increased uncertainties, which are negatively associated with cross-national settings. As antecedents and outcomes of RQ have mostly been addressed in domestic settings, we are interested in extant literature in regard to RQ in different cultural and cross-cultural settings. We conducted a systematic literature review, in order to gain a deeper understanding and also to identify future research areas. This knowledge will be further beneficial for managers conducting business with foreign firms, as important antecedents for promoting high-quality relationships and their beneficial outcomes have been identified.