Role of Fairness in Modelling Business Relationships

Abstract

Empirical studies show that fairness directly affects trust, satisfaction and loyalty in both B2B and B2C relationships, but this effect may be different in different power relations, cultural environments or business relationships.
In this study we show five fairness related models which use fairness as one of the norms describing the relationship dynamics. The comparative analysis of the models showed that across the board the definitions of fairness, though not completely identical, but consistently roots back to the same multi-disciplinary literature. When researchers define distributive justice, they base it on Adams’ (1965) equity theory which is built on the Aristotelian theory. The procedural and interpersonal components of fairness in relationship marketing are modeled based on the scientific findings of organizational justice research. None of the models considers fairness as a dependent variable: it is a phenomenon, which is more an everyday part of business processes rather than an expected outcome.