What Do We Know About the Identity Salience Model of Relationship Marketing Success? A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Although research on relationship marketing in general is vast, very little is known about managing relationships in a nonprofit context. To understand and explain nonprofit relationships we are in line with other nonprofit and relationship marketing researchers arguing that different relationship constructs from those identified in previous relationship marketing studies are required, and that the construct of identity salience is useful in this context. In this paper we therefore present an inter-disciplinary literature review on the topic of identity salience and relationships. With regard to the 54 articles found, four major issues will be discussed: First, the definition of identity salience; second, theoretical foundations and concepts used in previous studies; third, how to measure identity salience; and fourth, empirical findings regarding the impact of identity salience on relationship marketing success.

Keywords: Identity Salience, Identity Theory, Literature Review, Nonprofit Marketing, Relationship Marketing

JEL Classification: L30, L 31, M30, M31