Key account relationships: An exploratory inquiry of customer-based evaluations

•We analyze customer perceptions of the supplier in key account relationships prior to contract expiration.•Differential positive and negative drivers of relationship strengths and vulnerabilities emerge.•Content analytic findings show that patterns of positive and negative relational drivers differ based on the focal outcome.•Prevention, promotion, and conventional constructs are identified in the context of key account relationships.•Foci for key account managers change contingent on what their objective is with a specific key account.

The management and retention of key accounts is imperative in facilitating a firm's long-term viability. Previous examinations of key account relationships have revealed valuable insights into the factors facilitating key account management and driving relationship strength. However, account managers often fail to recognize weaknesses within their existing key accounts and the sources of their relationship vulnerabilities. Utilizing an exploratory inquiry of in-depth interviews with 99 executive decision makers across 52 key accounts cases, the authors assess customer relationship evaluations prior to contract expirations for account retention opportunities valued at over $1.3 billion. Unique positive and negative drivers of key account relationship evaluations are identified in a thematic categorization, along with a subsequent content analysis highlighting their patterned associations with positive and negative relationship evaluations, future business intentions, and business referral behaviors. These patterned associations reveal that positive and negative perceptions of relational drivers often affect outcomes in a differential manner, resulting in a classification of conventional constructs, prevention constructs, and promotion constructs. The results indicate that the desire of a supplier to maximize positive relational outcomes or minimize negative relational outcomes is driven by distinct underlying associations and allow for insights into resource allocation strategies within key account relationships.