Stress in business relationships

Abstract

Purpose – One of the causes of change in business relationships comes from incidents that deviate in a positive or negative way from the expected and normal relationship pattern. This introduces the concept of stress that captures the effect of negatively deviating incidents in business relationships. Design/methodology/approach – Presents a technique, the negative critical incident mapping (NCIM), for measuring this kind of stress. The technique is used in an industrial service and a business service setting to measure stress in a dyadic manner. Findings – The results show that not only were all studied relationships burdened with stress to a varying extent but there were also substantial differences in the degree and content of stress. The relationships showed significant differences when seller-buyer pairs of stress perceptions were matched. Operator-level perceptions of stress in the relationships corresponded better than manager-level perceptions. Research and management implications from the new relationship stress concept conclude the paper. Originality/value – The new relationship-stress concept is useful for relationship-dissolution and relationship-strength researchers since it reveals a hidden risk factor to a business relationship that complements current understanding. For managers the value lies in being able to diagnose relationships at risk of being lost or to detect fundamental relationship problems.