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Purpose The paper aims to validate the relationship between satisfaction, trust and commitment in South African business buyer–supplier relationships. Satisfaction was looked at from the dual perspective of economic and non-economic satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach A research model showing hypothesised relationships between the constructs was tested using data collected from 250 large companies in South Africa. Structural equation modelling using AMOS software was used to analyse the data. The results provide support for the distinctiveness of both economic and non-economic satisfaction and the mediating effect of trust.Findings The findings show that economic satisfaction exerts a direct influence on trust, which, in turn, has a direct influence on commitment. Trust and commitment were both found to have a positive influence on non-economic satisfaction.Research limitations/implications The tested nomological network of business relationship quality dimensions validates some of the recent findings by Ferro et al. (2016) in the South African context of buyer–supplier relationships.Originality/value The study contributes to a better understanding of satisfaction and its relationship with other relationship quality constructs, especially in the context of large companies in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]