Who Wants a Relationship Anyway?

Abstract

Prior research suggests that consumers may vary in the degree to which they wish to engage in a relationship with their service providers. The authors identify previously found and new factors that influence whether consumers expect a service provider to form a relationship with them. The authors then use these factors to segment consumers based on the relationship expectations they have with three universal categories of service providers: phone companies, banks, and doctors. Depending on the service type, either two or three segments emerge, ranging from consumers who are keen to have a relationship to those who are indifferent about relationships, down to those who are averse to forming relationships with service providers. Although there are always consumers who are keen to form a relationship with their service provider, there is no “hard core” group of consumers keen on relationships with all service providers.