Despite a recent surge of interest in commitment, its conceptual scope and components in channel relationships remain equivocal. The authors suggest continuance, behavior, and affect as three essential components of distributor commitment and hypothesize that each component of commitment has a different set of driving forces. A proposed model was tested with data collected in a national survey of industrial distributors. Estimation results indicate that (a) three suggested components are interrelated, yet distinctive, elements of distributor commitment, and (b) each component of distributor commitment is driven by a different set of driving forces. ยฉ1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
In the last decade, a major shift has occurred in the mode of interfirm exchange: from discrete transactions to value-laden relationships (J. C. . Among a number of constructs characterizing the relational approach to distribution channel management, one construct stands out for describing the strength of business ties: commitment. Commitment refers to the extent to which a firm is dedicated to a close and enduring relationship with another *p ฯฝ .01.