Transactional marketing and relationship marketing paradigms: a structural equation modelling approach

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the services marketing mix (SMM), 7Ps and business performance through relationship marketing (RM) in Jordan's services organisations. A structured questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 164 marketing managers. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the research model and hypotheses. Empirical findings indicate that the 7Ps of the SMM are found to be only 5Ps and they positively influence business performance. RM has partially-mediated the relationship between the 5Ps and performance. Services organisations have used the traditional marketing theory and RM as complementary approaches rather than a paradigm shift. The research model is developed and tested in Jordan's services organisations limits its generalisability to other service industries without further examination. One of the study's contributions is that it is the first quantitative empirical study that examined the SMM and RM simultaneously and examined their effect on performance.