Exploring opportunism, conflict, noneconomic satisfaction and economic satisfaction in a B2B context – A buyer and seller perspective

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to test the relationships between the antecedents of noneconomic satisfaction and its influence on economic satisfaction from both a seller’s and a purchaser’s perspective.Design/methodology/approach: Purchase and sales managers working for Taiwanese companies were included in the sample. Snowball sampling was applied and a total of 218 purchase managers and 208 sales managers participated in the study. Structural equation modelling was applied to the study.Findings: Opportunism was determined as an antecedent to conflict, while opportunism did not have a negative relationship with noneconomic satisfaction. Conflict was established as having a negative relationship with noneconomic satisfaction, which related positively to economic satisfaction in B2B relationships.Practical implications: The findings give purchase and sales managers insights that enable them to understand how opportunism relates to conflict, how these two antecedents relate to noneconomic satisfaction and how noneconomic satisfaction relates to economic satisfaction in purchase and sales business relationships. The tested model validates the hypothesised relationships between opportunism and conflict, conflict and noneconomic satisfaction, and noneconomic satisfaction and economic satisfaction from both a purchaser’s and a seller’s perspective. However, the negative relationship between opportunism and noneconomic satisfaction in purchaser–seller relationships could not be confirmed.Originality/value: No existing study has focused on relationship marketing in business-to-business relationships from both a purchaser’s and a seller’s perspective to establish whether noneconomic satisfaction functions as a connector between economic satisfaction and opportunism and conflict.

Economic and non-economic satisfaction as interlocking constructs in B2B sales relationships

“…As a result, business partner satisfaction is influenced by the economic benefits received from a relationship versus the cost of remaining in the relationship, ultimately guiding business partners' economic decisionmaking to continue with the relationship in future (Padgett et al, 2020). Against this background, it becomes evident that economic satisfaction is an important element to consider in the B2B relationship-building process, as promulgated by SET (Cassia et al, 2021;Jyh-Liang et al, 2022).…”

“…Partners are more often guided by psychological factors that impact their decision to remain in a relationship in the future (Prior, 2023). Aspects including relational contentment, joy experienced through engagement, and aligned ethical practices and beliefs are becoming crucial stimulants of economic satisfaction that guide future relational intent (Guan et al, 2022;Jyh-Liang et al, 2022). Han and Lee (2021) agreed, validating the relationship between cooperation and non-economic satisfaction.…”

“…Since the dawn of the new millennium, scholars (e.g. Jyh-Liang et al, 2022;Samiee, 2008) have argued that when B2B partners reflect positive economic satisfaction, they also illustrate a greater intent to enhance the cooperation of activities for future relational intent. Previous research Padín et al, 2017) has validated the relationship between economic satisfaction and coordination and confirmed the importance of this relationship to strengthen future relational intent among business partners (Payan et al, 2019).…”