The Mediating Role of Relationship Quality in the Linkage between Perceived Quality and Customer Loyalty

Abstract

This study is the first attempt to approach the quality of university-business relationships based on the theory of relationship marketing and test the mediating role of this concept in the impact of perceived service quality (PSQ) on the loyalty of corporate customers. A combination of online and in-depth interview instruments was adopted to gather the data from 486 enterprises. Estimation of the structural model and hypothesis testing were performed via structural equation modeling. The findings of our empirical research in the context of researching the university-business relationship in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam have determined that PSQ not only has a direct effect on the loyalty of corporate customers but also has a much stronger effect on customer loyalty when impacting through relationship quality (RQ) mediation. Current results imply that better relationship quality is likely to induce more loyal customers, given the same PSQ.