Corporate Image and Customer Responses to Organisational Transformation in B2B Context: An Empirical Research in Vietnam

Abstract Marketing researchers have largely focused on corporate image and customer responses to stimuli and events in their environment. However, little academic attention has been paid to the relationship between them. Besides, only a little attention has been given to the context of organisational transformation. The aim of this research, therefore, is to investigate these issues by testing the hypotheses about the relationship between corporate image and different customer response types (controllability attribution, attitude and relationship commitment) in B2B market under the specific context of organisational transformation in Vietnam’s transition economy. Using the structural equation modelling approach, the research found that corporate image has a strong impact on customer relationship commitment and is influenced by customer controllability attribution as well as attitude towards organisational transformation. This research also remarks the role of controllability attribution by showing that it has influence on both corporate image and customer attitude towards organisational transformation.