An Empirical Study on the Interpersonal Relationship between Customers and Staff in Professional Services in China

This study examines the interpersonal relationship between Customers and Staff in professional service in China, which differs from the Chinese "Gunxi" in the B2B field. Based on the attitude theory, this study examines the interpersonal relationship between customer and staff from both cognitive and emotional aspects. Three dimensions are proposed: Closeness, Liking and Overall Recognition, and then a conceptual model between the interpersonal relationship and customer commitment is constructed. Both the scale and the model are tested with nation-wide data. The results show that interpersonal relationship has an impact on customers' firm commitment directly and through staff trust and staff commitment indirectly. Theoretical and practical contributions of the results are discussed.