The Effect of Financial and Preferential Treatment Benefit on Customer Satisfaction in B2B Marketplace. A Study of Courier Industry in Quetta

Abstract

Relationship marketing is about enhancing, maintaining and establishing long-term relationships with customers and other stakeholders to attain organizational goals. There is a lack of evidence in existing relationship marketing literature regarding which relationship benefits enhance customer satisfaction and work as switching barriers in B2B marketplace in developing countries. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of three relational benefits (financial benefit, human interaction benefit and preferential treatment benefit) on satisfaction with the inclusion of mediating variable (switching barrier) and moderating variable (transactional volume). Quantitative research with the relational design was opted carried out the research. Three hundred self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the clients (business organizations) of courier companies (TCS and DHL) operating in Quetta-City. A proportionate and convenient sampling approach is used for data collection. The relationship officer of each client filled out the questionnaire. Hypotheses were tested through regression and the Hayes approach. Findings show that preferential treatment benefit is more linked with satisfaction, and switching barrier leads to human interaction and financial benefit. Moreover, the switching barrier significantly mediates the relationship between two benefits (preferential and human interaction) and customer satisfaction. The moderating effect of transaction volume was only significant with human interaction benefit. The switching barrier significantly differs between low and high human interaction at low transaction volume compared to high transaction volume. Thus manager needs to focus on preferential treatment and human interaction based on transaction volume in B2B marketplace.