Customer relationship value in the business-to-business railway market of Southern Africa

Abstract

This study involves establishing imperative customer relationship value antecedents and mediators within the business-to-business (B2B) railway industry of Southern Africa and determining whether these relationship value antecedents and mediators will achieve customer retention as an outcome. The goal is to create a conceptual model for the B2B railway industry of Southern Africa, which will be done through reviewing well-established theories and past literature on the topics of relationship marketing, relationship value, and retention within the B2B industry. After an examination of the existing literature, a proposed conceptual model will be developed and tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a sample of 265 B2B supplier companies operating in the Southern African railway market. The CFA represents the measurement model of this research, which proposes the relationship value antecedents, mediators, and their influence on retention within the B2B railway industry of Southern Africa. Secondly, structural equation modelling (SEM) will be conducted, in order to test relation-ships with latent factors. The results indicate that the factors of service, supplier, relational, and financial performance are important antecedents, and that satisfaction and relationship value are significant mediators of customer retention in the B2B railway industry of Southern Africa.