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Research on customer-perceived relationship value (CPRV) in business-to-business (B2B) markets has flourished over the past two decades. This paper aims to meta-analytically take stock of this research stream. It creates a comprehensive overview of the theoretical bases of CPRV research and establishes CPRV in its nomological network. The latter includes relationship benefits and sacrifices, offer quality, trust, switching costs, satisfaction, commitment, loyalty and salience of alternatives. Meaningful boundary conditions of the links to and from CPRV emerge from this research.

To locate suitable primary studies for inclusion in this meta-analysis, a comprehensive literature search was performed. Selection criteria ensured that only suitable B2B samples were included. Meta-analytical random and mixed-effects models were performed on a sample of k = 83 independent data sets from 94 primary publications, with a total n = 22,305.

All constructs are strongly related to CPRV in the expected direction, except for switching costs and salience of alternatives with a moderate relationship and relationship sacrifices with a non-significant mean association. Firm type (manufacturing, non-manufacturing), key informant role (purchaser, non-purchaser), supplier offering type (goods, services) and measurement approach (reflective, formative) function as boundary conditions in the moderation analysis.

This study is one of the very rare meta-analyses that draws exclusively from B2B marketing primary studies. It summarizes and solidifies the current theoretical and empirical knowledge on CPRV in business markets. The novel inclusion of boundary conditions offers additional insight over primary studies and makes for interesting new research directions.

This study aims to compare predictions from media synchronicity theory (MST) with the influence of personality variables in an attempt to explain how negotiators choose the communication media for negotiation.

The authors examine media choice in two scenario-based experimental studies with students (n = 209) and professionals (n = 302) in a negotiation setting. For the analysis of the data, the authors use multilevel modeling.

This study offers support for the central proposition of MST, namely, that the type of communication subtask (conveyance or convergence) determines the degree of media synchronicity needed and therefore media choice (face-to-face or email). The support for its boundary conditions and contingent situational determinants is weaker. With the affect for communication channel scale, this study also captures individual media preferences for face-to-face or email communication, which have consistent influences on negotiators’ media choice. The personal influence variables on average account for similar variance in the data compared with the MST-based determinants.

This study sheds new light on diverging empirical results concerning media influences in negotiation and offers some reconciling suggestions. Furthermore, this study is the first to test boundary conditions of MST. Also, it stresses the importance of negotiators’ media preferences for media choice.

This paper aims to better understand a firm’s market research function’s (MRF) roles and influences on the different uses of market research information (MRI) (instrumental, conceptual and symbolic) in the firm.

This study uses a mixed-methods design: In a qualitative study among marketing managers (n = 9) and market researchers (n = 10); different roles of a firm’s MRF are scrutinized. The quantitative study among corporate users of MRI (n = 235) tests a conceptual model on the MRF-related determinants of MRI uses, using structural equation modeling.

When the MRF exhibits methodological, market and business expertise and interacts with market research users, these features indirectly influence instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic uses, through MRI quality perceived by the users. The users’ knowledge of market research methods, the function’s integrity, top management support, and decentralized decision-making have various beneficial influences on the three uses of MRI.

Broadly speaking, this research expands the theoretical understanding of marketing-related organizational learning processes. It considers message, source, recipient, and context variables to explain changes in attitude and behavior, related to MRI uses.

Overall, corporations should use MRI more thoroughly. Treating the MRF as a strategic asset rather than just another internal service provider increases its value to the firm. Firms should thus bolster the MRF’s different roles, namely, internal colleague, service provider, customer representative, quality assurance, and knowledge broker.

This paper is the first to comprehensively analyze the MRF’s role in MRI generation and various uses. It identifies three expertise dimensions of the MRF to fully leverage the MRF’s value to the organization and empirically underscores theoretical writings on the MRF’s roles in the firm.