ASYMMETRIC VALUE EXCHANGE IN RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
Keywords:
relationship marketing, social entrepreneurship, asymmetric value exchange, reciprocity, stakeholdersAbstract
Relationship marketing is characterized by its focus on establishing, developing, and maintaining long-term and mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and all their stakeholders. In social enterprises, this process is more complex than in traditional for-profit enterprises due to their hybrid nature and their interaction with a much broader range of stakeholder categories. On the one hand, these enterprises pursue social goals through economic means, while at the same time engaging in dynamic interactions with a variety of actors, including beneficiaries, partners, employees, volunteers, and public institutions. All of these actors create different forms of value, but they also receive different types of value. The value provided by one stakeholder may benefit another stakeholder, while the contributing stakeholder may receive a different type of value through its relationship with the organization or through the broader network of relationships. In this way, the social enterprise acts as an intermediary and coordinator of multiple interconnected and asymmetric exchanges of economic, social, and relational value. The aim of this paper is to develop the concept of asymmetric value exchange as a specific mechanism of relationship marketing in the context of social enterprises. The paper is based on relationship marketing as its primary theoretical framework and is complemented by insights from stakeholder theory and the literature on social entrepreneurship. The paper focuses on how the hybrid nature of social enterprises influences relationships among different stakeholders and how trust and perceived value contribute to maintaining these relationships despite the absence of direct and equivalent value exchange. Based on the theoretical analysis, three propositions are formulated to explain the relationships between these factors and the social enterprise’s ability to establish and maintain a stable network of relationships. The proposed concept allows value exchange to be considered beyond the boundaries of a direct relationship between two parties and to be analyzed as part of a broader network of relationships. In this way, asymmetric value exchange may contribute to a better understanding of the role of social enterprises in connecting the different interests and expectations of stakeholders. The paper proposes that the long-term sustainability of a social enterprise depends not only on creating value for individual stakeholders, but also on its ability to coordinate different expectations, contributions, and benefits within a broader system of value exchange
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