Relationship Marketing and TCE: Testing the Power of Alternative Theories in Explaining Business Relationships

In this study the authors build from two conceptual frameworks of relationships, the one based on an economic perspective, the TCE, and the other one based on a more social approach to relationships, to examine the degree of support for these alternative explanations of both the intention to upgrade the relationship and the establishment of vertical control. Hypotheses are tested using primary data on 200 buyer-seller dyadic relationships. Our results suggest that TCE variables explain more variance of vertical control, while relational variables explain more variance of the intention to upgrade the relationship.