Determinants of relationship quality: An artificial neural network analysis

Relationship marketing has emerged as a focal point by which a company can succeed in a competitive environment. Understanding the success of methods used to develop long-term relationships with consumers, thus, becomes critical in the process of gaining competitive advantage. This article reviews the relationship quality (an important component of relationship marketing) literature and examines the factors that previous research has shown to be important. The article then presents an analysis of a survey of financial services consumers using a relatively new technique called artificial neural network analysis (ANNA). The technique is used to investigate the potential determinants of relationship quality. Methodologically, ANNA is shown to have a better predictive power than more conventional analytic techniques such as multiple regression.