Measuring attitudinal commitment in business-to-business channels

While organizational behaviourists have largely adopted a three-component conceptualisation of attitudinal commitment, marketers continue exclusively to apply one- or two-component models. In this paper, the reliability and validity of one-, two- and three-component models of commitment are examined within a business-to-business context. The results indicate that the three-component model incorporating instrumental, affective and normative dimensions is superior on both substantive and empirical grounds. It is subsequently argued that marketing planners need to demand that marketing researchers are more precise when incorporating commitment into conceptual and empirical studies, and account for these distinct components either by explicitly including or omitting them. It is also argued that marketing managers can enhance channel relationships if they are cognisant of the three distinct types of attitudinal commitments when formulating channel management tactics and strategies.