TY - JOUR
T1 - Online relationship formation
AU - Kozlenkova, Irina V.
AU - Palmatier, Robert W.
AU - Fang, Eric
AU - Xiao, Bangming
AU - Huang, Minxue
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the Marketing Science Institute for their helpful comments on an early version of this paper (Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series 15-126). The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant #71602064; 71672132) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (grant #2662016QD052). Satish Jayachandran served as area editor for this article.
PY - 2017/5
Y1 - 2017/5
N2 - As online shopping evolves from being primarily transactional to being more relational, sellers aim to form online relationships. This article investigates online relationship formation, identifies the performance payoffs that result from forming different types of online relationships (unilateral vs. reciprocal), and tests the most effective relationshipbuilding strategies. Study 1, based on a longitudinal buyer-level analysis of an online shopping community, reveals that buyers use community-, seller-, and buyer-generated signals to identify suitable relationship partners and reduce online shopping risk. These signals generally diminish in importance as buyers gain experience but become more important when buyers are forming reciprocal relationships. Study 2 evaluates the dynamic payoffs of online relationship formation (seller-level analysis) on sales; the effect on sales of reciprocal relationships is three times greater and lasts seven times longer than that of seller-initiated, unilateral relationships. Study 3 is a field experiment testing managerially actionable strategies for leveraging relationships to grow online sales. Tenets arising from differences between online and offline relationships, together with the results from the three studies, inform an emerging theory of online relationships.
AB - As online shopping evolves from being primarily transactional to being more relational, sellers aim to form online relationships. This article investigates online relationship formation, identifies the performance payoffs that result from forming different types of online relationships (unilateral vs. reciprocal), and tests the most effective relationshipbuilding strategies. Study 1, based on a longitudinal buyer-level analysis of an online shopping community, reveals that buyers use community-, seller-, and buyer-generated signals to identify suitable relationship partners and reduce online shopping risk. These signals generally diminish in importance as buyers gain experience but become more important when buyers are forming reciprocal relationships. Study 2 evaluates the dynamic payoffs of online relationship formation (seller-level analysis) on sales; the effect on sales of reciprocal relationships is three times greater and lasts seven times longer than that of seller-initiated, unilateral relationships. Study 3 is a field experiment testing managerially actionable strategies for leveraging relationships to grow online sales. Tenets arising from differences between online and offline relationships, together with the results from the three studies, inform an emerging theory of online relationships.
KW - E-commerce
KW - Online shopping
KW - Reciprocity
KW - Relationship marketing
KW - Shopping communities
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U2 - 10.1509/jm.15.0430
DO - 10.1509/jm.15.0430
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019060770
VL - 81
SP - 21
EP - 40
JO - Journal of Marketing
JF - Journal of Marketing
SN - 0022-2429
IS - 3
ER -