Scaling for better service performance: effects of respect and rapport on relationship quality in Malaysia

In today’s competitive era, service businesses seek the most creative but effective means of attracting and retaining customers. In doing so, efforts are be concentrated on creating quality relationship via interpersonalrelationship with customers. This research is suggesting two ways of building good interpersonal relationshipwith customers, which are rapport and respect. This preliminary study draws on empirical result from clients of dental clinics in Malaysia. The result from Pearson Correlation and Multiple Regression analysis support the need for both constructs in building quality relationship with customers. The authors conclude with a discussion on the results and implications.