IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joiaen/v14y2025i1d10.1186_s13731-025-00474-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of individual dimensions of business relationship quality and business customer value in building loyalty in microfinance

Author

Listed:
  • Amani Gration Tegambwage

    (The University of Dodoma)

  • Pendo Shukrani Kasoga

    (The University of Dodoma)

Abstract

This study examines the effects of individual dimensions of business relationship quality (BRQ), namely trust, respect, and reciprocity, on business customer value (BCV) and customer loyalty (CL) in the microfinance industry. In addition, the study investigates the mediation effects of BCV on the relationship between the individual dimensions of BRQ and CL. A survey of 509 microenterprises that borrow money from microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Tanzania was conducted. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Based on the findings, it is concluded that BCV is significantly impacted by respect and trust. BCV, however, is not significantly related to reciprocity. Respect has a positive and significant impact on CL, while trust and reciprocity are not significantly related to CL. Furthermore, the study concludes that CL is positively and significantly impacted by BCV. Regarding the mediation effects, the study concludes that BCV fully mediates the link between trust and CL and partially mediates the link between respect and CL. There is no mediation between reciprocity and CL. The major recommendation of this study is that practitioners and policymakers should establish strategies and policies, respectively, which combine BRQ initiatives such as trust and respect with interventions that increase BCV in order to improve CL. Providing valuable services is difficult if the microentrepreneur is not respected and trusted. CL, in turn, will ensure MFIs’ survival and, hence, foster entrepreneurship development.

Suggested Citation

  • Amani Gration Tegambwage & Pendo Shukrani Kasoga, 2025. "The role of individual dimensions of business relationship quality and business customer value in building loyalty in microfinance," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joiaen:v:14:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1186_s13731-025-00474-z
    DOI: 10.1186/s13731-025-00474-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s13731-025-00474-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s13731-025-00474-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amani Gration Tegambwage & Pendo Shukrani Kasoga, 2023. "Strengthening customer loyalty through financial satisfaction in the banking industry," Nankai Business Review International, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(3), pages 461-477, October.
    2. Afrifa, Godfred Adjapong & Gyapong, Ernest & Zalata, Alaa Mansour, 2019. "Buffer capital, loan portfolio quality and the performance of microfinance institutions: A global analysis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    3. Wolfgang Ulaga & Andreas Eggert, 2006. "Relationship value and relationship quality: Broadening the nomological network of business-to-business relationships," Post-Print hal-00482522, HAL.
    4. El-Adly, Mohammed Ismail & Eid, Riyad, 2016. "An empirical study of the relationship between shopping environment, customer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty in the UAE malls context," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 217-227.
    5. Niels Hermes & Marek Hudon, 2018. "Determinants Of The Performance Of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1483-1513, December.
    6. Pendo Shukrani Kasoga & Amani Gration Tegambwage, 2021. "An assessment of over-indebtedness among microfinance institutions’ borrowers: The Tanzanian perspective," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 1930499-193, January.
    7. Liu, Chung-Tzer & Guo, Yi Maggie & Lee, Chia-Hui, 2011. "The effects of relationship quality and switching barriers on customer loyalty," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 71-79.
    8. Amani Gration Tegambwage & Pendo Shukrani Kasoga, 2022. "Loan repayment among group borrowers in Tanzania: the role of relationship quality," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Amani Gration Tegambwage, 2023. "Multilevel relationships and loyalty in the microfinance industry: evidence from Tanzania," Journal of Business and Socio-economic Development, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(1), pages 71-83, November.
    10. Scott Weaven & Brent L. Baker & Rajiv P. Dant, 2017. "The Influence of Gratitude on Franchisor‐Franchisee Relationships," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(S1), pages 275-298, December.
    11. Morrison Hendrik Riwu Kore & Rofikoh Rokhim & Riani Rachmawati & Lily Sudhartio, 2023. "Entrepreneurial orientation and social performance of microfinance institutions in Indonesia," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 51(7), pages 899-914, November.
    12. Atthaphon Mumi & George Joseph & Shakil Quayes, 2020. "Organizational and legal institutions, and the performance of microfinance institutions as hybrid entities," Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(3), pages 285-309, June.
    13. Amani Gration Tegambwage & Pendo Shukrani Kasoga, 2022. "Antecedents of customer loyalty in Islamic banking: evidence from Tanzania," Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(4), pages 701-713, March.
    14. Nyadzayo, Munyaradzi W. & Khajehzadeh, Saman, 2016. "The antecedents of customer loyalty: A moderated mediation model of customer relationship management quality and brand image," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 262-270.
    15. Hani, Umme & Akter, Shahriar & Wickramasinghe, Ananda & Kattiyapornpong, Uraiporn, 2021. "How does relationship quality sustain the rich world’s poorest businesses?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 297-308.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amani Gration Tegambwage & Pendo Shukrani Kasoga, 2024. "Relationship quality and customer loyalty in the Tanzanian microfinance sector," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(1), pages 138-153, March.
    2. Doddy Ariefianto, Moch. & Trinugroho, Irwan & Yustika, Ahmad Erani, 2024. "Diversification, capital buffer, ownership and credit risk management in microfinance: An investigation on Indonesian rural banks," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Chuah, Stephanie Hui-Wen & Marimuthu, Malliga & Kandampully, Jay & Bilgihan, Anil, 2017. "What drives Gen Y loyalty? Understanding the mediated moderating roles of switching costs and alternative attractiveness in the value-satisfaction-loyalty chain," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 124-136.
    4. Jogi Mathew, 2024. "Drivers of Customer Retention: An Introspection Into Indian Retail Customers," Vision, , vol. 28(5), pages 567-579, November.
    5. Muhammed S. Alnsour, 2018. "Online relationship marketing for banks in face-to-face economies," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(3), pages 105-116, September.
    6. Abiodun Omidiji & Nives Botica Redmayne & Dimu Ehalaiye & Ernest Gyapong, 2024. "Internal audit in microfinance institutions‐ evidence from transitional and developing economies," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 109-141, January.
    7. Pendo Shukrani Kasoga & Amani Gration Tegambwage, 2024. "The Effect of Attitudes Towards Money on Over-Indebtedness Among Microfinance Institutions’ Customers in Tanzania," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 1365-1384, June.
    8. Torres, Pedro & Augusto, Mário & Godinho, Pedro, 2017. "Predicting high consumer-brand identification and high repurchase: Necessary and sufficient conditions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 52-65.
    9. Nurul Fazleen Mohd Zariman & Norshima Humaidi & Muhammad Hafiz Abd Rashid, 2023. "Mobile commerce applications service quality in enhancing customer loyalty intention: mediating role of customer satisfaction," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(4), pages 649-663, December.
    10. Matanda, Margaret Jekanyika & Freeman, Susan, 2009. "Effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on exporter-importer inter-organisational relationships and export performance improvement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    11. Lionel Nicod & Sylvie Llosa, 2018. "How should customers be trained in their role as coproducers? The influence of training and its characteristics on the benefits of coproduction," Post-Print hal-03513344, HAL.
    12. Manuel Rodríguez-Díaz & Rosa Rodríguez-Díaz & Tomás F. Espino-Rodríguez, 2018. "Analysis of the Online Reputation Based on Customer Ratings of Lodgings in Tourism Destinations," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-18, September.
    13. Idris Idris & Saefudin Zuhri & Mohammad Efendi, 2018. "Determinants of Employee Work Satisfaction," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 47-52.
    14. Budiarto Tedja & Mochammad Musadieq & Andriani Kusumawati & Edy Yulianto, 2024. "Systematic literature review using PRISMA: exploring the influence of service quality and perceived value on satisfaction and intention to continue relationship," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    15. Mohamed, Toka S. & Elgammal, Mohammed M., 2023. "Credit risk in Islamic microfinance institutions: The role of women, groups, and rural borrowers," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    16. Simona-Mihaela TRIF, 2012. "Antecedents and consequences of relationship quality. A case study of banking sector in Romania," Timisoara Journal of Economics, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 5(18), pages 253-271.
    17. imen ABDENNADHER & Karim TRABELSI & Tarek ABDELLATIF, 2017. "Les influences des déterminants de la qualité relationnelle des banques islamiques sur l’engagement de leurs clients," Journal of Academic Finance, RED research unit, university of Gabes, Tunisia, vol. 8(1), June.
    18. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    19. Bhat Ishfaq Hussain & Singh Sapna, 2018. "Examining the moderating effect of shopping value on private-label and loyalty in Indian grocery stores," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 748-760, March.
    20. Shyh-Ming Huang & Shyh-Rong Fang & Shih-Chieh Fang & Chao-Chin Huang, 2016. "The influences of brand benefits on brand loyalty: Intermediate mechanisms," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(1), pages 141-160, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joiaen:v:14:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1186_s13731-025-00474-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.