The antecedents and consequences of relationship strength: A disaggregated approach in the context of a Chinese service industry

Relationship strength has become one of the focal concepts in relationship marketing and customer relationship management. Consequently, in practice, how to build strong relationship with VIP customers has become the priority of managers. However, little is known about how to strengthen the relationship strength with VIP customers and its consequences. This study, based on an intensive literature review and empirical analysis, aims to bridge this gap by examining how to strengthen the relationship strength with VIP customers by taking a disaggregated approach and exploring the consequences of each dimension of relationship strength. Our empirical analysis also finds that relationship strength plays a full mediating role in the relationship between various customer relationship management activities and customer trust, customer satisfaction and customer perceived value.