A naturalistic study of the early relationship development process of nondirective play therapy.

In a networked market, firms build and develop their relationships with surrounding exchange partners. Despite extensive research on relationships, there is still great potential for researchers to undertake a novel approach to address issues in the field. This study explores the relationship development process of foreign firms operating in China. A fundamental claim of the study is that although the economic and social contents in business relationships are outlined in the extant literature, empirical research treating them as distinguishable and examining them in a separate manner remains uncommon. In response to this, a two-dimensional view is presented to understand relationships and their development processes, by analysing the economic and social aspects separately. Particularly, the study focuses on comparisons between Asian firms and Western firms, between small and large firms, and between manufacturing and service firms, and investigates their differences in developing the economic and social dimensions in the relationship development context. The study contains two phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2, undertaking qualitative and quantitative approaches, respectively. In Phase 1, the two-dimensional view is examined in the Chinese setting, and results show that foreign firms put different emphases on the economic and social aspects in developing their local relationships; in Phase 2, it is found that some of the underlying assumptions from the literature that are associated with the three comparisons noted above need to be reconsidered. For example, Western foreign firms appear to emphasise the social aspect of their relationships more than their Asian counterpart at the start of the relationship. Similarly, larger firms and manufacturing firms nurture social content more than their smaller and service counterparts, respectively. These findings are contrary to some of the accepted orthodoxies in regard to firms' relationship development. The results from these two phases respond to the two research questions underpinning the study: 1) Do foreign firms operating in China emphasise their economic ties and social bonds differently in developing business relationships? 2) Are there any differences in the relationship development process of firms that have different nationality and size, and which operate in different industry sectors, with respect to the economic ties and social bonds? If yes, then what are these differences? Discussion of the results for these two questions ties back to the broad research problem of the study – how do foreign firms develop their business relationships in China with local actors? In presenting the findings and insights, the study contributes to the literature in a number of ways that are outlined in the thesis. Most notably, it makes a contribution to the relationship literature, by proposing and confirming the two-dimensional approach to relationship formation and development. Secondly, by exploring foreign firms' relationships in China, the study contributes to the international business literature, providing insights into differences between different types of foreign firms.

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Consumer-Brand Relationship Development Process in the Context of Online Booking Services: The Role of Cognitive and Affective Drivers

Strategic Innovative Marketing - Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-56288-9_29 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 213-220

Author(s):

A. N. Giovanis ◽

P. Athanasopoulou ◽

S. Mamalis

Keyword(s):

Development Process ◽

Relationship Development ◽

Brand Relationship

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Predicting Romantic Interest during Early Relationship Development: A Preregistered Investigation using Machine Learning

10.31219/osf.io/sh7ja ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Paul Wolfe Eastwick ◽

Samantha Joel ◽

Daniel C. Molden ◽

Eli Finkel ◽

Kathleen L. Carswell

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Theoretical Perspective ◽

Romantic Partners ◽

Relationship Development ◽

Romantic Attraction ◽

Separation Distress ◽

Data Points ◽

Early Relationship ◽

Stage 1 ◽

Romantic Interest

There are massive literatures on initial romantic attraction and established, “official” relationships. But there is a gap in our knowledge about early relationship development: the interstitial stretch of time in which people experience rising and falling romantic interest for partners who have the potential to—but often do not—become sexual or dating partners. In the current study, 208 single participants reported on 1,065 potential romantic partners across 7,179 data points over seven months. In stage 1 of the analyses, we used machine learning (specifically, Random Forests) to extract estimates of the extent to which different classes of predictors (e.g., individual differences vs. target-specific constructs) accounted for participants’ romantic interest in these potential partners (12% vs. 36%, respectively). Also, the machine learning analyses offered little support for perceiver × target moderation accounts of compatibility: the meta-theoretical perspective that some types of perceivers are likely to experience greater romantic interest for some types of targets. In stage 2, we used traditional multilevel-modeling approaches to depict growth-curve analyses for each predictor retained by the machine learning models; robust (positive) main effects emerged for many variables, including sociosexuality, gender, the potential partner’s positive attributes (e.g., attractive, exciting), attachment features (e.g., proximity seeking, separation distress), and perceived interest. We also directly tested (and found no support for) ideal partner preference-matching effects on romantic interest, which is one popular perceiver × target moderation account of compatibility. We close by discussing the need for new models and perspectives to explain how people assess romantic compatibility.

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