The impact of relationship marketing on customer retention in the pharmaceutical sector

Other Title(s)

تأثير التسويق بالعلاقات على الاحتفاظ بالزبائن في قطاع الأدوية

Dissertant

Salhab, Hanadi Akram

Thesis advisor

al-Shaykh Salim, Fuad Abd al-Wahhab

Comitee Members

Miqdadi, Yunus Abd al-Aziz
Abu Nabi, Abd al-Aziz
al-Bakri, Thamir

University

Amman Arab University

Faculty

College of Business

Department

Department of Marketing

University Country

Jordan

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Date

2013

English Abstract

-The competition in the pharmaceutical business sector is continuously increasing, and the main challenge facing the pharmaceutical suppliers lies in retaining long term relationships with their customers (the retail pharmacies).

Relationship Marketing has become a fundamental strategy that should be implemented by the pharmaceutical business sector in order to retain their customers.

In addition to, there comes the Relationship Quality importance that is considered as a corner stone for sustaining Marketing Relationships.

Thus, the pharmaceutical marketing managers and their suppliers should take into consideration how Relationship Marketing factors can enrich the Relationship Quality in order to retain their customers and to minimize their customers switching to other competing supplier in the market.

Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to examine the impact of Relationship Marketing factors on customer retention through Relationship Quality in the Pharmaceutical business sector.

This study adopted the customers' views, the retail pharmacists who are directly dealing with the pharmaceutical companies' suppliers.

The conceptual framework of this study was tested using data gathered from the questionnaires directed to a total sample of 500 retail pharmacies located in Amman and Zarqa.

The results of this study showed that Relationship Marketing factors, as an independent variable (communication, seller expertise, and comparison level of alternatives, cooperation and the dependence on the seller), have varying effect on relationship quality constructs as a mediating variable (trust, satisfaction and commitment), and that relationship quality has a varying effect on customer retention as a dependent variable.

The statistical results indicated that communication negatively and significantly affects Relationship Quality.

While seller expertise, which is the most influential factor within Relationship Marketing factors that affects Relationship Quality, has a positive and significant effect on Relationship Quality.

The results of the Comparison level of alternatives showed that it has a positive and significant effect on trust, no effect on satisfaction, and positive but insignificant effect on commitment.

The statistical results for the Dependence on seller indicated a positive but insignificant effect on commitment and satisfaction, while it has a positive and significant effect on trust.

Regarding the results of cooperation, it has a negative and significant effect on trust and commitment while it has a negative insignificant effect on satisfaction.

The result of the effect of Relationship Quality on customer retention, showed a positive and significant effect of satisfaction and commitment on customer retention, while trust has insignificant effect on customer retention.

According to the above results, the researcher presented a set of recommendation for the pharmaceutical companies’ marketing managers about the importance of implementing Relationship Marketing through their marketing activities, enhancing Relationship Quality in order to retain customers, concentrating more on different communication programs with their customers emphasizing on sellers expertise through training programs.

In addition to, the managers need to be more cooperative through offering different facilities and to build customer dependence to limit customers switching to other competitors.

Consequently, Relationship Quality will be improved through building trust, commitment and customer satisfaction which will finally leads to customer retention.

Main Subjects

Marketing

Topics

• Marketing
• Drugs

No. of Pages

191

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-533550