THE COMMITMENT-TRUST THEORY OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

Relationship marketing-establishing, developing, and maintaining succe ssful relational exchanges-constitutes a major shift in marketing theo ry and practice. After conceptualizing relationship marketing and disc ussing its ten forms, the authors (1) theorize that successful relatio nship marketing requires relationship commitment and trust, (2) model relationship commitment and trust as key mediating variables, (3) test this key mediating variable model using data from automobile tire ret ailers, and (4) compare their model with a rival that does not allow r elationship commitment and trust to function as mediating variables. G iven the favorable test results for the key mediating variable model, suggestions for further explicating and testing it are offered.