Cross-cultural literature would suggest that communication is a highly complex
construct encompassing aspects of mutuality, accuracy, timeliness, tone, candidness,
context richness, intensity, modality and direction. Furthermore, communication is
known to have a technical and social component, the latter of which is likely to be
culturally sensitive. In light of the global context of B2B transactions today, it is quite
surprising that cultural intermingling has not heightened the attention given to this
loosely described construct. To this end, this literature review seeks to uncover the
affiliations between relationship quality, communication and culture.
The importance of ‘getting to know one another’ and communication as the
means to this social process is highlighted by Dwyer et al. (1987): “a relationship seems
unlikely to form without bilateral communication of wants, issues, inputs, and priorities”
(p. 17). Grönroos (2004), although referring to communication in B2C, identifies key
processes of relationship marketing to include communication and interaction that should
lead to a dialogue. According to Grönroos (2004), in order for effective relationship
dialogue to exist, both parties need to be motivated to engage in a dialogue. The
interactive process should lead to both parties reasoning together and creating new
knowledge that leads to better solutions for customers. In addition, “communication