The antecedent role of customer-to-employee relationships in the development of customer-to-firm relationships

In this study, a customer-to-employee (C--E) relationship construct is employed to test the antecedent role of C--E relationships in the development of customer-to-firm relationships. The authors propose a conceptual model of the relationships that are hypothesized to exist among the constructs of ‘rapport’, ‘relational benefits’, ‘affective commitment’, and ‘dedicational behaviours’ of customers with respect to full-service restaurants. This study demonstrates that rapport has a positive influence on customers' perceptions of relational benefits and that rapport and enhanced perceptions of relational benefits induce customers to develop affective commitment and form intentions to engage in dedicational behaviours towards restaurants.