Evaluating relationships: are satisfaction and quality enough?

This paper examines the current literature and trends in the measurement of service relationships. The authors present evidence from two industry studies which suggests that satisfaction and/or quality as currently conceptualized are not sufficient diagnostic tools to assess the health of a relationship, certainly not sufficient when only one relationship partner's outcomes are assessed. Two studies which explore service relationship satisfaction, are presented as illustrations to demonstrate that firms engaged in partnering relationships need to consider changing the way they evaluate the ability of their systems to satisfy partners as the relationship progresses. Process issues and value-enhancing components in addition to satisfaction and quality are among the critical dimensions to evaluate in order to fully assess the health of a relationship.