Paper info

Determinant factors of relationship heaviness - An empirical investigation

Andrea Gelei, Imre Dobos and Judit Nagy

The paper was published at the 25th IMP-conference in Marseille, France in 2009.

 The focal question of our research is how heavy Hungarian business relationships are, and what specific characteristics this relationships have. Business relationship heaviness is one of the most important relationship features because substantially influences the stability of the relationship itself. We argue that the level of buyer  supplier relationship heaviness is generated by activity ties, social bonds and resource links and influenced by the complexity of the exchange object relevant for a specific relationship. The paper presents the results of a survey carried out among Hungarian companies. Our analysis examines the effect of the exchanged product and service package on relational ties and relationship heaviness. We specifically study the characteristics of the exchange object and their influence on different relational ties developed in the relationship.