Reaching the breaking point a dynamic process the

Authors: Thomas Hollmann Cheryl Burke Jarvis Mary Jo Bitner

Publish Date: 2014/05/06

Volume: 43, Issue: 2, Pages: 257-278

PDF Link

Abstract

Qualitative field research based on long depth interviews with businesstobusiness customers who defected from a supplier relationship is used to develop an integrated theoretical framework explaining how the defection decision process unfolds over time in businesstobusiness relationships The authors develop a taxonomy of events both internal and external to the relationship that are proposed to create “defection energy” or the motivation to move a customer from relationship status quo toward a defection decision The framework illustrates how these internal and external events interact with the organization’s and the individual decision maker’s goals practices and values to engage a dynamic anchoring and updating mechanism based on accumulated defection energy that drives the process toward a decision threshold The research offers marketers insights to improve defection management including an understanding of how organizational and individual customer needs shape relationships that defection decisions build as a result of multiple events over time requiring a longerterm perspective on defection and that defection decisions can be influenced by events outside the core product or service delivery process suggesting that these decisions need to be understood within the broader context of the overall relationship

Keywords: