Inter‐organisational relationships in professional services: towards a typology of service relationships

Angus W. Laing · Paul C.S. Lian

73 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Services Marketing

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Customer Service Quality and Loyalty Outsourcing and Supply Chain Management Service and Product Innovation

Abstract

Purpose Research into inter‐organisational relationships has been one of the key drivers in the development of services marketing theory. Yet the understanding of the nature of such relationships, and the management of the relationship process, remains limited. Focusing on the development of buyer‐seller relationships in an archetypal professional business service, this paper aims to critically examine the nature and format of inter‐organisational service relationships. Design/methodology/approach Research reported in the paper is based on case study research across multiple dyads (n=7) in the occupational health sector supported by large‐scale survey data. Findings Argues that, rather than adhering to a single format in terms of characteristics or pattern of development, relationships are diverse and complex. A typology of “ideal type” relationship formats, ranging from quasi‐transactional to internalised, is proposed. Each of these ideal types is characterised by a unique set of causal and resultant conditions. Research limitations/implications The paper is based on data from a single, albeit archetypal, professional business service. Consequently future research should address the replicability of the results across other service sectors. Practical implications The identification of these discrete relationship formats and their key characteristics along a continuum provides an empirical basis on which service professionals can develop targeted strategies for the management of particular inter‐organisational relationships. Originality/Value Building on preceding research, the paper provides empirically based analysis of the nature and format of inter‐organisational relationships in professional service markets.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 73 citations exist upstream.

References

1985Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness 1994The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing 2011External Control of Organizations: Resource Dependence Perspective 1987Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships 1997An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer-Seller Relationships 1994Determinants of Long-Term Orientation in Buyer-Seller Relationships 1990A Model of Distributor Firm and Manufacturer Firm Working Partnerships 2002Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness

Cited by

2010Power priorities: A buyer–seller comparison of areas of influence 2011A multidimensional typology of customer relationships: from faltering to affective 2019Service specification in pre-tender phase of public procurement - A triadic model of meaningful involvement 2010Business services ‘in the making’: (De)Stabilisation of service definitions during the sourcing process 2012Network partner knowledge and internal relationships influencing customer relationship quality and company performance

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.