Opportunism and conflict as precursors of non-economic and economic satisfaction outcomes in seller–customer business relationships

ABSTRACT Purpose The study explores a seller’s perspective of the influence of opportunism and conflict, which are negatively loaded constructs, on non-economic satisfaction as a positively loaded construct. It further established the influence of non-economic satisfaction on economic satisfaction as a positively loaded construct from a sales perspective in a supplier–business relationship. Design/methodology/approach The study followed a quantitative and exploratory approach. Respondents (sales or marketing managers/directors or key account managers) were asked to identify one main business customer with whom they had interacted in the last year. In addition, respondents were further required to keep the selected customer in mind when answering the questionnaire. Consequently, all 213 but one (one non-response bias) surveys were used in the data analysis. A 5-point Likert-type scale was used to determine the degree to which respondents agreed or disagreed with the items provided in the questionnaire relating to opportunism, conflict, non-economic satisfaction and economic satisfaction in seller–business relationships. The SPSS/Amos 24.0 software was used to conduct the multivariate analysis in two phases. Phase one comprised a confirmatory factor analysis, while phase 2 comprised structural equation modeling. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the measurement properties of each construct, while structural equation modeling was applied to evaluate the hypothesized relationships in the precursor and outcome research model. Findings The findings show that in seller–business relationships, sellers are of the opinion that buyer opportunism and the existence of conflict do affect a seller’s non-economic satisfaction directly, which in turn affects the economic satisfaction of seller–business relationships. Sellers further indicated a positive seller–business relationship can stimulate a long-term partnership if both opportunism and conflict are negatively related to non-economic satisfaction and non-economic satisfaction relates positively to economic satisfaction. Research implications The study makes a practical contribution through an improved understanding of a seller’s perspective on how opportunism relates to conflict, how these two precursors influence non-economic satisfaction and how the latter relates to economic satisfaction in a seller–business relationship environment. An improved understanding of a sellers perspective of the variables under study, can potentially stimulate a long-term partnership if both a seller and a buyer are in agreement that opportunism and conflict are negatively related to non-economic satisfaction and non-economic satisfaction relates positively to economic satisfaction. In terms of the theoretical contribution this study explores a seller’s perspective in business relationships to validate whether the findings reported in previous studies based on buyer business relationships applies to seller–business relationships. This study therefore contributes to broaden the relevance of existing theory and the findings reported in previous studies on business relationships, but from a seller’s perspective. This is especially important considering the growing need in the B2B literature to also understand a sellers’ perspective when building long-term business-to-business relationships. Secondly it was established that sellers perceive opportunism to be positively related to conflict in a seller–business relationship. Thirdly, it was established that sellers acknowledge that opportunism has a negative relationship to non-economic satisfaction in seller–business relationships. Seller’s in supplier–business relationships therefore view opportunism as a strain on the non-economic relationship between two parties since one partner can perceive that unfair negotiation practices or other forms of opportunism can benefit the other partner. This outcome can then ultimately have a negative influence on the economic satisfaction experienced, limiting the long-term potential of the relationship. In addition, seller’s argue that the management of conflict becomes critically important in their relationship-building initiatives with buyers. They further argue that there has to be mutual understanding for the role of each partner in the relationship, that each partner wants to benefit economically from the relationship and that mutual exchange is founded on mutual agreement of what such exchange entails. Finally, it was validated that if both the seller and the buyer are content with the relationship and the benefits it has to offer, a long-term orientation can be secured. Originality/value A limited number of research studies explored the B2B relationship between opportunism, conflict and its influence on economic and non-economic satisfaction from the perspective of the seller. Opportunism and conflict as precursors to non-economic satisfaction, where economic satisfaction is an outcome, has not been previously researched from a seller–business relationship perspective. No previous study has focused on relationship marketing in B2B relationships from the perspective of a seller to establish the influence of opportunism and conflict on non-economic satisfaction, and its ultimate influence on economic satisfaction. This finding adds value as it indicates what constitutes non-economic satisfaction in seller–business relationships and how this has an influence economic satisfaction. The two precursors of non-economic satisfaction can be used in future to investigate the influence of non-economic satisfaction on different outcomes such as dependence, commitment, collaborative communication and environmental uncertainty. Considering this, the study contributes to Relationship Marketing theory by suggesting valuable measurement constructs.