Satisfying Customer Expectations: The Effect on Conflict and Repurchase Intentions in Industrial Marketing Channels

Abstract

The article investigates how the marketer's fulfillment of middleman expectations impacts upon conflict and repur chase intentions in industrial channels. The nature and key determinants of expectations in industrial buyer behavior are examined. Discrepancy theory is used to assess the (dis)con firmation of expectations process. A series of hypotheses are developed and tested in a large manufacturing and distribu tion network engaged in the marketing of fluid power products. Results suggest a direct causal effect of (dis)con firmed expectations on repurchase intentions and on conflict, and that the effect of expectations on repurchase intentions is not modified by the creation of conflict. Managerial implica tions are drawn.

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