Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the relationship marketing underpinnings, namely: commitment; competence; communication and conflict handling on the one hand and customer loyalty on the other, as well as the mediation effects of trust and relationship quality. Design/methodology/approach-Bank customers in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia were surveyed using a questionnaire. Bank intercept technique was

The study examines culture's role in the association of relationship quality with customer loyalty. Specifically, the association of relationship quality dimensions with loyalty was examined in a European high uncertainty avoidance culture (Turkey) and an Asian low uncertainty avoidance culture (Malaysia). Data were collected through a field survey of randomly selected bank customers in Ankara and Kuala Lumpur. Factor and Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses (HMRA) were employed for data analysis. The results show that relationship quality dimensions explain a significant amount of variance in customer loyalty. Trust and satisfaction are significantly associated with customer loyalty. Uncertainty avoidance is significantly associated with loyalty. The impact of trust on loyalty is moderated by uncertainty avoidance. As such, culture is an explanatory variable for customer loyalty.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of structural autonomy in the relationship between innovation strategy and performance of international technology services ventures (ITVs). Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 200 ITVs serving markets outside their country of origin. Instrumentation followed standard procedure by adapting validated and parsimonious items from existing literature. Factor and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were applied to examine the hypothesised relationships. Findings – The results indicate a significant relationship between innovation strategy (namely service products innovation, process innovation and administrative innovation) and performance of ITVs. Structural autonomy moderates the relationship between process innovation, administrative innovation and performance. There is no moderating effect of autonomy in the association of service products innovation and performance. Research limitations/implications – The study corroborates the argument that service firms have more to gain by granting autonomy. In the context of ITVs, such gains are directly linked to performance through enhanced innovation in service products, processes and administration. It adds to the growing suggestions and rebuttals in the literature of a trade-off between innovation and communication; and between exploration of new knowledge and exploitation of existing knowledge in organisations when there is autonomy. Practical implications – Management can increase innovation and performance by granting greater autonomy to employees. Managers who are concerned that autonomy’s capacity to increase innovation capability may come at the expense of intra-organisational communication can be assured that intra-organisation communications can exist in the face of autonomy, and there is no real trade-off after all. Similarly, there is no basis for any concern for potential trade-off between exploration of new knowledge and exploitation of existing knowledge in organisations. Originality/value – Research suggests that autonomy of subsidiaries, units, groups or individuals encourages innovation, and that innovation strategy can enhance organisational performance. However, there is a counter-argument that same autonomy potentially hinders exploitation and performance of innovations. The study sheds more light on these anecdotal views based on data from ITVs.

This research investigates the moderating impact of mogul >/entrepreneurs ' persona such as innovativeness, risk-taking propensity, perseverance, and flexibility on the relationship between users ' ease of use and usefulness perceptions and system usage. Perceived usefulness and ease of use are important constructs in the Technology Acceptance model (TAM), which have been generally linked to the usage of technologies-directly and indirectly. However, unique user persona, such as found among entrepreneurs, may have digerent implications on these relationships. This research explores such implications among the Chinese, the Indians, and the Malay entrepreneurs. Findings and implications of the research are discussed.