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Examining the effects of mutual information sharing and relationship empathy: A social penetration theory perspective

Author

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  • Mangus, Stephanie M.
  • Bock, Dora E.
  • Jones, Eli
  • Folse, Judith Anne Garretson

Abstract

Most studies that explore the role of mutual information sharing in buyer-seller relationships focus on disclosure between parties; however, the literature largely ignores the content of such disclosures. This article investigates the role of disclosure content between buyers and sellers in generating important relationship outcomes. Data from qualitative interviews uncover the presence of both business and personal content in the information shared between a salesperson and their customers. Using matched survey responses from salesperson-customer dyads and secondary performance data, our work demonstrates that both types of disclosure content significantly affect relationship outcomes, with positive effects on customer-felt relationship empathy, trust, and sales performance. Further, we show that customer-felt relationship empathy has a stronger effect on trust in newer relationships, signaling the strength of customer-felt relationship empathy as a relationship-building tool. These findings empirically show that the content of disclosures between buyers and sellers is a critical driver of relationship performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Mangus, Stephanie M. & Bock, Dora E. & Jones, Eli & Folse, Judith Anne Garretson, 2020. "Examining the effects of mutual information sharing and relationship empathy: A social penetration theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 375-384.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:109:y:2020:i:c:p:375-384
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.12.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie M. Mangus & Eli Jones & Judith Anne Garretson Folse & Shrihari Sridhar, 2020. "The interplay between business and personal trust on relationship performance in conditions of market turbulence," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1138-1155, November.
    2. Aghazadeh, Sanaz & Brown, J.Owen & Guichard Latiolais, Laura & Phillips, Thomas J., 2024. "The effects of a client's social media disclosure and audience engagement on auditor judgment," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    3. Meng-Xun Ho & Hideyoshi Yanagisawa, 2023. "Design for Well-Being and Sustainability: A Conceptual Framework of the Peer-to-Peer Sharing and Reuse Platform in the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Vieira, Valter Afonso & Fernandes de Negreiros, Leticia & Agnihotri, Raj & Bakeshloo, Khashayar Afshar, 2021. "Perceptual differences regarding leadership between the store manager and employees and its impact on frontline sales performance: A research note," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 347-358.
    5. Chang, Woojung, 2022. "The effectiveness of AI salesperson vs. human salesperson across the buyer-seller relationship stages," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 241-251.
    6. Xiangdong Shen & Junbin Wang, 2024. "How short video marketing influences purchase intention in social commerce: the role of users’ persona perception, shared values, and individual-level factors," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Locander, David A. & Locander, Jennifer A. & Weinberg, Frankie J., 2020. "How salesperson traits and intuitive judgments influence adaptive selling: A sensemaking perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 452-462.
    8. Wai-Peng Wong & Kim Hua Tan & Kannan Govindan & Di Li & Ajay Kumar, 2023. "A conceptual framework for information-leakage-resilience," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 329(1), pages 931-951, October.
    9. Surajit Bag & Gautam Srivastava & Anass Cherrafi & Ahad Ali & Rajesh Kumar Singh, 2024. "Data‐driven insights for circular and sustainable food supply chains: An empirical exploration of big data and predictive analytics in enhancing social sustainability performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 1369-1396, February.

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