Social exchange theory postulates long-term customer-company relationships are built on trust and commitment. Cell phone service providers seek to secure the trust and commitment of their customers through service contracts. Relationship intention (RI) is a more precise measure of customer trust and commitment. This paper compares the trust of cell phone service customers and their commitment to cell phone service providers based on customers’ contract status and RI classification. Data from 1,473 cell phone customers from South Africa (n = 589) and the Philippines (n = 884) were analyzed. The study shows for both the South African and Philippine samples that there is no relationship between respondents’ contract status and their trust in or commitment to cell phone service providers and that trust in or commitment to cell phone service providers is significantly higher among high relationship intention (HRI) customers than among low relationship intention (LRI) customers. RI is a stronger indicator of customers’ trust in and commitment to cell phone service providers than contracts in both countries. This makes HRI customers more receptive to relationship marketing strategies than customers with contracts or LRI customers, as HRI customers trust and commit to cell phone service providers significantly more.

Despite the benefits of following a relationship marketing approach, firms should use caution when targeting customers with relationship marketing strategies as not all customers want to enter into long-term relationships. Targeting customers based on the length of customer-firm association could also be flawed as the success of doing so is disputed. This study explored relationship intention under cell phone customers in two emerging markets, namely the Philippines and South Africa. Findings show that relationship marketing strategies should only be focused on customers displaying high relationship intentions rather than, erroneously, investing in relationships with customers based on association length.

His research interests include relationship marketing, relationship intention, relationship proneness and brand avoidance. Before joining the University of Pretoria he was the Director of the School of Business Management at the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus). Before joining the academia, he held numerous marketing and product management positions in the South African telecommunications industry.

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