II. Methodology — Systematic Review Protocol
2. Search Strategy
To systematically identify relevant knowledge from the literature, keywords, search strings and search engines were defined for electronically available journals. Other sources of information were also defined.
1) Keywords
The following keywords were selected from frequently used words in the literature and their synonyms from www. thesaurus. com:
Keywords Explanation Cus tom er ’s v iew
B2B, business-to-business, industrial B2B setting
Customer, client Customer
Perceive-perception, behave-behaviour, attitude, attention, recognize-
recognition, cognition-cognitive, interpret-interpretation, sense-sensing Perception (generic) Switching-cost, trust, commit-commitment, satisfy-satisfaction, value,
service quality Perception (specific)*
Respond-response, react-reaction Reaction (generic)
Switch, recommend-recommendation, word-of-mouth, loyal-loyalty Reaction (specific)*
S up pl ier’s v iew
B2B, business-to-business, industrial B2B setting
Customer, client Customer
Relationship, relation, interaction, partnership Relationship
Trust, commit-commitment, satisfy-satisfaction, loyal-loyalty, service quality Relationship quality** Lose-lost-loss, defect-defection, attrition, churn, churn/attrition rate, lapse-
lapsed, retain-retention, maintain-maintenance, leave, switch, change Customer retention** Cross-sell/selling, cross-buy/buying, one-stop-shopping, key supplier,
global account, key account, share-of-wallet
Customer development** * Heskett et al., 1994, Kamakura et al., 2002, Lam et al., 2004, Mentzer et al., 1997, Ngobo, 2004, Parasuraman et al., 1985, Rauyruen and Miller, 2007 ** Birkinshaw et al., 2001, Holmlund and Strandvik, 1999, Kamakura et al., 2002, Ngobo, 2004, Ulaga and Eggert, 2006
Ch-2 Table 2: Applied Keywords
2) Search Strings
Based on the systematic review questions and the keywords, the following two sets of search strings were formed. Since major search engines allow only a limited number of words in one search (e.g. maximum of 20 words at ProQuest), the most important and specific words were selected from the keywords.
# Search strings SR questions
A (b2b OR 'business-to-business' OR industrial) AND (customer OR client) AND (perception OR perceiv* OR behav* OR attitude OR respon* OR react* OR cogniti* OR switch* OR trust OR commit* OR satisf* OR value OR 'service quality' OR recommend* OR 'word-of-mouth' OR loyal*)
What are the key factors that affect customer’s
perceptions and reactions in a B2B setting?
B (b2b OR 'business-to-business' OR industrial) AND (customer OR client) AND (relation* OR commit* OR satisf* OR loyal* OR loss OR lost OR attrition OR churn OR retain OR retention OR cross-selling OR cross- buying OR one-stop-shopping OR key supplier OR global account OR key account OR share-of-wallet)
What are the key elements of customer relationship management activities that impact on a firm’s business performance in a B2B setting?
Ch-2 Table 3: Search Strings
3) Search Engines
Here is the list of key search engines/databases for business and management (Cranfield university library: http://www.cranfieldlibrary.cranfield.ac.uk/) with relevant information based on a quick assessment of each database using a basic search string:
Search term used (b2b OR business-to-business OR industrial) AND (customer OR client) AND (satisf* OR loyal*)
Database No. of hits
(Title)
No. of hits (Abstract)
No. of hits
(All text) Remarks
ABI/INFORM (ProQuest) 29 1,810 84,674 Can be used as the
main search engines. Business Source Premier (EBSCO) 36 765 112,135
CSA Illumina (former PsycINFO) 0 49 2,691
Can be used as supplemental search engines when applicable.
Google Scholar 14 n/a 72,200
Emerald 2 26 8,613
ScienceDirect 2 40 4,540
Scopus 5 88 961
Blackwell Synergy 0 8 8,027 Can be neglected due
to the limited number of relevant information sources.
IngentaConnect 0 11 n/a
Oxford Reference Online 0 n/a 23
Zetoc n/a n/a n/a
Ch-2 Table 4: Key Search Engines
Furthermore, applicability of the search strings was tested using the selected search engines. According to Dr. David Denyer, systematic review specialist at Cranfield School of Management, the reasonable/manageable number of hits is up to 1,500. As shown here, both search strings have been proved to be applicable.
Ch-2 Table 5: Search Strings Test
4) Other Sources of Information
Finally, other sources of information were considered as follows:
Information source Decision and rational Journals not cited
in the databases
Those journals identified by cross-referencing exercises or recommended by the research panel are included. Otherwise, it was decided not to go any further because their credibility would be doubtful if they cannot be found through the process.
Conference papers In general, those papers can be included if related to my SR questions. Google Scholar can sometimes find relevant conference/unpublished papers from wide range of information sources. However, the main sources for that kind of papers should be selected articles (cross referencing) and recommendation from the research panel. Working papers or
unpublished papers
Books A collection of academic articles, such as Elsevier’s ‘Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions’, can be identified through cross-referencing exercises and must be included. A complete book can be included only if it is directly related to my SR questions and cited by the selected articles or recommended by the research panel. Reports from
relevant institutions
In general, those reports are excluded due to expected lack of methodological rigor. Only industry related reports, such as ‘Transport Intelligence’, can be included just as a reference.
Documents on the Internet
There are enormous numbers of reports and documents available on the Internet, however, it was decided not to include them as official information sources because it is hard to assess and justify their methodological quality.
Ch-2 Table 6: Other Sources of Information
3. Selection Criteria
All the journals, books and papers identified through the search method above were assessed by the following check points for their titles and abstracts:
Check Point Decision (Inclusion/Exclusion) and Rational
Type of literature
Scholarly journals, books and papers identified through the search method above are included considering expected high level of methodological rigor, while the ones with anecdotal or commercial arguments (e.g. practitioner’s journals) are excluded.
Type of study
Empirical studies are targeted so that their findings can be extracted in a systematic way with comparison. Conceptual/theoretical papers can be included only if they provide model(s) or framework(s).
Search String Search criteria Academic journal, 1998 - 2008 (10 years) No. hits (abstract) on Feb-2008
ProQuest EBSCO
A 873 1,190
Applied method
Papers with quantitative method are preferred for the comparison purpose, but that of qualitative method should not be excluded as long as they provide clear and comparable findings.
Publication year
The business environment, particularly market (customer) reactions, has been changing rapidly, hence recent studies are preferred. Papers published after 1998 (10 years) are included depending on size of the identified literature. Written language Only English papers are included without exception.
Res ea rc h S am pl e/Co nte n
t Sector Researches for the private sector to be focused and that for the public sector and non-profit organizations can be excluded.
Industry All industry samples to be included with preference to the service industry. Business model Samples from a B2B setting to be selected (B2C, C2B and C2C should be
excluded unless a paper provides a universal model).
Geographic scope Samples from all regions/countries to be included (Europe preferred). Organization type Samples of Multinationals preferred but SMEs cannot be excluded.
Ch-2 Table 7: Selection Criteria
Once the papers were shortlisted by the title/abstract assessment above, the next step was a full paper screening of their empirical study using the following criteria:
SR-Q A: Decisive (important) factors for business customers in making buying
decisions — perceptional / behavioural aspects.
SR-Q B: Correlation between customer relationship management activities and a
firm’s business performance.
4. Quality Assessment
Quality of the selected journals, books and papers were assessed by the following framework (applicable mainly for empirical papers):
No. Quality Appraisal Criteria
Quality Level/Score
1 = Low 2 = Medium 3 = High Not Applicable
1 Journal Quality (Grading by Cranfield SoM) 1* = National 2* = Lower international 3* = Top international, 4* = World leading Books, unpublished papers… 2 Theory (Proposition and Theory Building)
Not clear research objectives, limited review of literature and weak theory building with less realistic propositions.
Clear research objectives plus acceptable level of literature review and theory building with reasonable/ realistic propositions.
Robust research objectives, excellent review of literature and compelling theory building with sound propositions. n/a 3 Methodology (Sampling and Data Collection Less satisfactory research design with inadequate sample selection or
Satisfactory research design with adequate sample selection and appropriate data
Excellent research design with
adequate/convincing
4
Analysis (Data Analysis, Interpretation and Conclusion)
Less reliable data analysis — invalid method or illogical lead/chain from data analysis (e.g. statistics), interpretation to conclusion.
Reasonably reliable data analysis — valid method and
acceptable lead/chain from data analysis (e.g. statistics), interpretation to conclusion.
Highly reliable data analysis — valid method and logical lead/chain from data analysis (e.g. statistics), interpretation to conclusion. n/a 5 Contribution (Practical Knowledge Contribution)
Findings are not clear or not meaningful. Limited contribution to management
practices.
Clear findings but not significantly
contributing to management practices.
Clear and meaningful findings that
significantly contribute to management practices.
n/a
Ch-2 Table 8: Quality Assessment Framework
1) Quality Screening
Papers with the average quality score (overall score divided by five) of two or higher were selected as the final knowledge base.
2) Cross-Referencing
Journals not cited in the databases, conference papers, working papers/unpublished papers and books cannot be systematically identified through the search strings/engines above. Hence, cross-referencing was conducted from the selected papers.
5. Data Extraction
Reviewed papers were summarised in the defined template. Here is a sample of the template with actual data:
Title Relationship quality as a predictor of B2B customer loyalty
ID No. and SR-Q 73 - a Relevance (H–M–L) H
Abstract
This study aims to provide a picture of how relationship quality can influence customer loyalty in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Building on prior research, we propose relationship quality as a higher construct comprising trust, commitment, satisfaction and service quality. We believe that these dimensions of relationship quality can reasonably explain the influence of overall relationship quality on customer loyalty. In addition, this study provides more insightful explanations of the influence of relationship quality on customer loyalty through two levels of relationship quality: relationship quality with employees of the supplier and relationship quality with the supplier itself as a whole. Aiming to fully explain the concept of customer loyalty, we follow the composite loyalty approach providing both behavioral aspects (purchase intentions) and attitudinal loyalty. We seek to address three main research issues: Does relationship quality influence both aspects of customer loyalty? If so, which relationship quality dimensions influence each of the components of customer loyalty? And which level of relationship quality (employee level versus organizational level) has more influence on customer loyalty? This study uses the courier delivery service context in Australia and targets Australian Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). We selected mail survey and online survey as the two methods of data collection, and together they received 306 usable respondents. Structural equation modeling yields insights into the influence of the dimensions and levels of relationship quality on customer loyalty. Results show that all four dimensions of relationship quality influence attitudinal loyalty, however, only satisfaction and perceived service quality influence behavioral loyalty (purchase intentions). Most remarkably, results indicate that only the organizational level of relationship quality influences customer loyalty. The employee level of relationship quality does not play a significant in influencing B2B customer loyalty in this study.
Author Rauyruen and Miller Institution University of Technology, Sydney, AU
Lit. Type Journal (empirical study) Publication Date 2007 Journal /
Publisher Journal of Business Research Research Field
Marketing (Loyalty, Relationship and Service) Industry Customer: Not specified
Supplier: Logistics (service) Biz Model B2B
Geo. Scope Australia Org. Type Customer: SMEs
Supplier: MNCs + SMEs # Samples 306 out of 7,000 potential targets (response rate: 4%) — Customers as respondents
Aim & Applied Method
Questionnaire survey (on-line and paper) to investigate correlations between relationship quality and customer loyalty in a B2B setting
Outcome / Performance Measures
Customer loyalty:
o Behavioural loyalty — Repurchase intention or possible share-of-wallet
o Attitudinal loyalty — Psychological attachments, including positive word-of-mouth
Key Variables
Relationship quality:
o Trust in employees & supplier
o Calculative & affective commitment to employees & supplier o Overall satisfaction
o Perceived overall service quality
Design & Operation
Measurement: Loyalty type from the loyalty literature, loyalty determinants from relationship and service marketing literature.
Sample selection: To investigate customer perceptions, the authors targeted the population of SMEs (owners & mgrs) in AU, who most likely use the suppliers’ services. No data about the suppliers are targeted / used.
Data Analysis Hypothesis testing by structural equation modelling AMOS 5 with maximum likelihood estimation method, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
Key Findings
Out of 16 potential correlations, only 6 paths are empirically demonstrated: o Trust in supplier positively relates to attitudinal loyalty
o Affective commitment to supplier positively relates to attitudinal loyalty o Overall satisfaction positively relates to both attitudinal & behavioural loyalty
o Perceived overall service quality positively relates to both attitudinal & behavioural loyalty Overall satisfaction and perceived service quality influence business customers’ (re)purchase
intentions, while trust and commitment do not
Employee level relationship quality has no significant impact on both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty
Calculative commitment has no significant impact on both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty Time Dim. Not specified
Quality Score No.1 2 No.2 3 No.3 3 No.4 2 No.5 2.5 Avg. 2.5 Remarks As stated, the loyalty mechanism of MNCs may be different from that of SMEs. It is suggested to investigate customer relationship, or contact point, in detail.
Ch-2 Table 9: Data Extraction Template
6. Synthesis
Once the data extraction from all the relevant papers is completed, the final stage is to integrate them into one structured review paper and then build a literature-based causal map applying a mapping technique (Huff and Jenkins, 2002) as well as a conceptual model. The model is designed to indicate factors that affect a customer’s perception and reaction (customer’s view) and elements of customer relationship management activities that impact on winning and retaining businesses (supplier’s view) in a B2B setting.
7. Overall Procedure
Here is the overall procedure to systematically identify relevant literature and build a solid knowledge base during Project-1 (Ch-2 Figure 2):
Ch-2 Figure 2: Systematic Review Procedure