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.