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Purpose -After almost a decade of relationship quality studies in the retail industry, high consensus exists regarding the dimensions that define the construct. Disregarding epistemological depth of the concept of commitment, however, has led only to its unidimensional operationalization. To improve the retail relationship quality operationalization, this paper seeks to provide theoretical and empirical support that calculative and emotional commitment should be included as dimensions of relationship quality in addition to trust and satisfaction in the retail environment. Design/methodology/approach -Cross-sectional telephone interviews with members of a retail loyalty club were conducted in two waves. The first wave included 116 respondents to purify the measurement instrument. The second wave included 416 respondents to estimate the parameters in SEM. Findings -Empirical findings suggest that in the retail environment, relationship quality as a second-order factor influences emotional commitment, calculative commitment, and a combined construct of trust and satisfaction.Research limitations/implications -The research is limited to members of a single do-it-yourself (DIY) retailer's loyalty club. Cross-retail industry and cross-country testing could potentially improve the proposed scale for measuring relationship quality in the retail sector. Practical implications -Although relatively abstract in its higher-order factor formation for daily managerial purposes, the paper attempts to discuss managerial implications from the retail point of view in a comprehensive and readable manner. By narrowing the focus to a particular sector and selected dimensions of the construct, the paper helps increase understanding of the central construct of relationship marketing to the managerial sphere. Originality/value -An important contribution of this paper lies in the selection of dimensions that reflect the relationship quality construct in the retail environment; more specifically, the selection of calculative and emotional commitment. An historical overview of relationship quality studies in consumer markets also provides an opportunity to improve comprehension of the phenomena.

Purpose -The purpose of the article is to investigate relationship quality in retail relationships as influenced by its antecedents (loyalty programme quality and personal interaction quality) and resulting in customer loyalty to the retailer. The focus is on loyalty programme members' perceptions and differences between segments of consumers with different levels of involvement in the product category. Design/methodology/approach -The method used was a consumer survey. Two waves of cross-sectional telephone interviewing with 116 and 410 members of a retail loyalty club were conducted. Structural equation modelling served for the estimation of relationships in an integrated conceptual framework among constructs of loyalty programme quality, personal interaction quality, relationship quality and loyalty, relevant to the development of retail relationships. Findings -The findings suggest that loyalty programme quality is important for relationship quality; however, efforts to assure personal interaction quality with customers are needed to improve relationship quality as well as customer loyalty. The study deepens knowledge of relationship quality's antecedents and consequences in the retail environment with regard to segments of customers with different levels of product category involvement.Research limitations/implications -The research is limited to members of a selected DIY retailer's loyalty programme, not accounting specifically for membership in multiple loyalty programmes. Future research could use different methodologies such as longitudinal studies to examine dynamic relationships among the constructs in the study. Practical implications -In the retail context, practical implications of the impact of loyalty programme quality and of personal interaction quality on relationship quality and customer loyalty are considered. Originality/value -The paper contributes to the understanding of members' perceptions and responses to relationship quality as well as to some mechanisms underlying customer loyalty in loyalty programmes.

This study is based on the case of BMW, and aims to improve the determination of perceived consumer satisfaction in the automotive industry by transferring existing knowledge from the health care sector. A literature analysis of the health care sector and the automotive industry was conducted to identify the common concepts of determining satisfaction. These were the service encounter, situational factors, and sociodemographics. The practical application was tested by analyzing a contemporary survey from BMW. Based on the findings, managers responsible for customer satisfaction in after-sales services in the automotive industry could improve measurement of customer satisfaction.

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