The performance implications of power–trust relationship: The moderating role of commitment in the supplier–retailer relationship

The current research examines how coercive power and non-coercive power affect trust and how these relationships are affected by affective and calculative commitment. It also expands the understanding of the role of an under-researched dimension of performance, i.e., strategic performance, and studies it as a mediating variable in the relationship between trust and financial performance. The proposed model is empirically tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) in supplier–retailer channel in Taiwan. The findings reveal that affective commitment has a positive moderating effect on the negative relationship between coercive power and trust, while calculative commitment has a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between non-coercive power and trust. The results also indicate that strategic performance partially mediates the effect of trust on financial performance. The research advances theoretical understanding on the complex power–trust relationship and provides insights into the role of commitment in both enabling and undermining channel relationships. The findings highlight the importance of building affective commitment in channel relationships and the critical role of strategic performance in the trust–financial performance relationship.     

The effects of distributor relationship commitment and relationship exploration on opportunism: The moderating roles of exchange uncertainties and network factors

Channel management entails both the evaluating of incumbent business partners and simultaneously seeking potential new partners. In supplier–distributor exchanges, distributors can explore alternative suppliers while still committing to incumbent suppliers. While the current literature has demonstrated the importance of relationship commitment, the consequences of relationship exploration and whether that exploration is harmful to any incumbent relationships remain unclear. Drawing from relational governance and social network theories, this study thus examines how distributor dual relationship strategies of commitment and exploration influence their opportunistic behavior. The findings from a survey of 328 distributor firms indicate that relationship commitment leads to reduced opportunism; yet relationship exploration exerts no significant main effect on opportunism. More interestingly, these effects are subject to two types of uncertainty and two characteristics of distributor network wherein the focal exchange relationship resides. Specifically, behavioral uncertainty—an internal source of uncertainty—aggravates the opportunism that arises from both strategies, whereas, environmental uncertainty—an external source of uncertainty—alleviates both these effects. The distributor's network density weakens the effect of relationship commitment on opportunism, but network centrality strengthens this effect. By contrasting relationship commitment with relationship exploration under multiple moderating conditions, this study advances the extant channel relationship management literature and practice.     

Flexibility in industrial service relationships: The construct, antecedents, and performance outcomes

Exchanges between service providers and their customers on business markets increasingly take place in the form of long-term business relationships. These relationships are governed through formal or informal agreements. However, actors are bounded in their rationality and find it impossible to contemplate all possible future contingencies. The more formal and detailed the contracts they conclude, the likelier it becomes that at least one actor is going to perceive a need to adjust the initial agreement as environmental events unfold. In this case, the actor relies upon his partner's flexibility. This paper deals with service providers' flexibility and presents empirical results from the market research sector including outcome variables (satisfaction, trust, commitment) and determinants of service provider flexibility (uncertainty, relationship-specific investments, mutuality, long-term orientation). Empirical results suggest that service provider flexibility is an important determinant of customer satisfaction, trust, and commitment.     

An analysis of international business-to-business relationships based on the Commitment-Trust theory

Business-to-business relationships are characterized by an exchange between two or more parties. Research has identified several factors that enhance marketing and management in business relationships, mainly with a focus on large manufacturing firms. However, less is known about how service firms develop and maintain international relations during the establishment of a business. To analyze the relevance of the key mediating variable (KMV) model [J. Mark. 58 (1994) 20-38.], which maintains that business-to-business relationship requires commitment and trust, interviews were conducted with five different service entrepreneurs in Sweden, Australia and the UK. The findings demonstrate the importance of commitment, trust, relation termination costs and benefits, shared values and communication between the exchange partners.     

Relationship-specific investments,social capital,and performance: The case of Korean exporter/foreign buyer relations

Relationship-specific investments are addressed as crucial factors for the successful management of the exporter–foreign buyer relationships. It is hypothesized that relationship-specific investments have a positive impact on social capital components such as trust and commitment, which in turn contribute to the relationship and business performance satisfaction between partners. On the basis of our analysis of the relationships between Korean exporters and their foreign buyers, the validity of the roles of relationship-specific investments and social capital are clearly demonstrated. The results provide us with a meaningful implication to the successful management of inter-firm relationships.     

Creating trust and commitment in B2B services

In an ever-changing environment, business relationships are becoming increasingly complex. This particularly applies to the business-to-business (B2B) service sector due to its intangible nature. The combination of personal and organizational relationships further increases this complexity. However, trust can reduce uncertainty and complexity and help maintain commitment. Based on structural equation modeling and a sample of 1692 participants, this study provides insights into the drivers of trust in organizations and salespersons and their impact on commitment. The results show that both are important, but trust in a salesperson far surpasses the effect of trust in an organization. Furthermore, reputation and service quality influence trust in an organization, while social skills and low selling orientation affect trust in a salesperson. In summary, to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to provide a comprehensive trust model in the B2B service market, and it might serve as a guide for future research.     

The changing importance of affective trust and cognitive trust across the relationship lifecycle: A study of business-to-business relationships

The purpose of this paper is to examine affective trust and cognitive trust and their effects on business relationship outcomes. Within a relationship marketing framework, the influence of affective trust and cognitive trust on the success of business relationships at the early and mature phases of the relationship lifecycle is examined. Both affective and cognitive forms of trust are demonstrated to be multidimensional constructs that indirectly influence relationship performance via the mediating variables commitment and liking.The development and use of five elements of trust to explain relationship performance extends existing understanding of relationship marketing. By combining five elements of trust (three cognitive and two affective) and testing them in two different relationship lifecycle phases, insights are generated into how a relationship can succeed. The model tested in this paper highlights the importance of affective trust in the early phase and cognitive trust in the mature phase of the relationship lifecycle. Further, the mediating roles of commitment and liking between trust and relationship performance are also developed. Hence, the research increases understanding of how relationships evolve, in particular the role of affective trust and cognitive trust in influencing relationship performance.The context of this research is business-to-business relationships in small and medium enterprises. A survey of 458 businesses people is used to evaluate both the early and mature relationship lifecycle phases. The data are analysed with structural equation modelling where the basic structural model testing is extended with multigroup analysis.     

Exporter-importer relationship quality: The inhibiting role of uncertainty, distance, and conflict

The article examines the impact of uncertainty, distance, and conflict on key elements comprising the quality of the relationship between U.S. industrial exporters and their overseas customers. Information received from 151 manufacturers revealed that these three parameters play a significant negative role in building sound relationship quality, in terms of adaptation, commitment, communication, cooperation, satisfaction, trust, and understanding — which, in turn, may inhibit the firm's progression along the internationalization path. Specifically, an inverse association was found between uncertainty, distance, and conflict, on one hand, and commitment, cooperation, and satisfaction, on the other. In addition, in relationships characterized by high uncertainty, adaptation, communication, trust, and understanding were low. In high distance relationships, communication was insufficient, and in high conflict situations, trust and understanding were low. Several managerial implications are extracted from the study, as well as directions for future research.     

Industrial relationships and the effects of different types of connections

Emphasizing the primary and secondary functions in business networks, this paper is based on the presumption that the primary function of the focal dyadic relationship is connected to business, political, ancillary and competitive relationships, i.e. what has been denoted as the secondary function. The question is how these secondary functions affect the primary function. The conceptual view developed for the focal dyadic relationship is founded on the two key relationship concepts of trust and commitment. The empirical study is based on a survey of 353 firms and their most important customer relationships. The analysis examines nine hypotheses through a structural model in LISREL. Conclusions from the statistical test show the heterogeneity in the impacts of these different types of connections on trust and commitment. Knowledge of the impact of these connections can aid the further understanding of relationship connections and also assist business firms in developing strategies towards these units.     

Is the theory of trust and commitment in marketing relationships incomplete?

Trust and commitment are central to the relational mediators model of relationship marketing. Extant research suggests that trust enhances commitment, as a trusted partner is so highly valued that a channel member will invest in the relationship and put forth efforts to maintain that relationship. This study re-examines the causality between trust and commitment by comparing alternative models across three datasets (including the seminal Morgan and Hunt 1994 data). The results indicate that while trust enhances commitment, commitment can also erode trust. Several viable, theoretically-driven explanations for this negative effect are discussed, and propositions are developed for future research.     

Dark side of reciprocity norm: Ethical compromise in business exchanges

In this research, we investigated the impact of the reciprocity norm on ethical compromise likelihood in managerial decision-making. We developed the ‘reciprocity norm-ethical compromise thesis’, postulating that the norm of reciprocity is positively related to ethical compromises in business exchanges. Specifically, the norm of reciprocity, potentially through its moral and instrumental forces, compels a party in a reciprocal exchange relationship to advocate an ethically questionable or even unacceptable practice requested by the other party in the relationship. We also examined the role of environmental uncertainty and exchange partner's retaliatory power status as boundary conditions of the reciprocity norm-ethical compromise relationship, in addition to trust and perceived future gain opportunity in the relationships as potential mediating mechanisms of the reciprocity norm-ethical compromise relationship. The results of two experiments with business professionals have yielded support for the interaction effects of this norm and its boundary conditions on the likelihood of ethical compromise. In addition, the results yielded support for perceived future gain opportunity in exchange relationships as an instrumental mechanism linking the reciprocity norm to ethical compromises in business exchanges. Finally, the experimental results did not support the notion of trust as a moral mechanism that links the reciprocity norm to ethical compromises in business exchanges.     

Antecedents and consequences of commitment in marketing research services: The client's perspective

Commitment is one of the most frequently studied variables in business-to-business relationships and several researchers propose it is the main antecedent of customer loyalty. However, while marketing relationships researchers agree on the importance of the construct, differences remain in its conceptualization and operationalization. This study examines commitment from the customer's perspective, consisting of three components: calculative, affective and normative. Relationships were tested between the three dimensions of commitment and social bonds, trust and satisfaction in the context of professional business services providers and their clients. The results of the model that was tested in Central and Eastern European companies show that affective commitment is the only one of the three components that significantly influences customer loyalty. Trust and social bonds have no significant relation either to normative or to calculative commitment while a relation of overall satisfaction with normative and calculative commitment is negative. The theoretical and managerial implications for the model to assist in the development of appropriate strategies to achieve affective commitment and loyalty in business relationships are discussed.     

The impact of coercive and non-coercive forms of influence on trust, commitment, and compliance in supply chains

A major premise in managing channel relationships is encouraging cooperation to achieve the aims of the relational partners. This often requires a balancing act between utilization of influence across the supply chain to motivate decisions, while employing tactics that do not damage the future of the relationship. This paper builds and tests a model of how influence strategies affect relational elements, specifically trust and commitment, which both promote strong inter-firm relationships and act as mediators of joint action, specifically cooperation and compliance across channel partners. Results suggest that coercive strategies are counterproductive in encouraging cooperation and compliance either directly or through relational intermediaries, while non-coercive influence produces positive outcomes and effects on intermediaries. Low levels of coercive influence do appear to generate positive outcomes. Managerial implications and future research based on these results conclude the paper.     

Different roles of control mechanisms in buyer-supplier conflict: An empirical study from China

Using transaction cost economics and contemporary insights from the literature on relationship contracts as a base, this paper focuses on how control mechanisms (contracts and trust) affect relationship conflicts in buyer-supplier relationships, and investigates the moderating effects of environmental uncertainty. Based on a sample of 162 Chinese buyers, this paper shows that contracts have a U-shaped effect on destructive conflict and an inverted U-shaped effect on constructive conflict, while trust has a negative effect on destructive conflict and a positive effect on constructive conflict. In addition, environmental uncertainty strengthens the U-shaped effect of contracts on destructive conflict, but weakens the inverted U-shaped effect of contracts on destructive conflict and strengthens the effect of trust on both types of relationship conflict. Our findings reveal the “double-edged sword” nature of contracts, especially the “dark side”, and highlight the importance of trust in buyer-supplier relationships in contexts of environmental uncertainty. These findings also have important implications for buyer-supplier relationship management research and managerial practices, particularly in regard to governance structure and conflict management in dynamic contexts.     

The impact of trust and contract on innovation performance: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty

Research into two important control mechanisms for managing the supply chain relationship - contracts and trust - is on the rise. However, our understanding of how they influence innovation in a firm remains rather unclear. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to examine the individual and interactive effects of contracts and trust on firms' innovation performance and the contingent effects of environmental uncertainty on those relationships in China. The empirical results from a survey of Chinese manufacturing firms indicate that there is a positive relationship between trust and firms' innovation performance, an inverted U-shaped relationship between the use of contracts and firms' innovation performance, and that contracts and trust are substitutes. Moreover, we find that environmental uncertainty enhances the effects of trust, but does not influence the impact of contracts on innovation performance.     

The impact of cultural differences in U.S. business-to-business export marketing channel strategic alliances

Given slower growth and fierce competition in the domestic market, combined with increasing opportunities in many overseas markets, more and more U.S. companies are going international. While many doing so may initially use a direct exporting approach that relies on foreign channel members to distribute the product in the host country, over time, strategic alliances among distribution partners may form based on trust, commitment, and cooperation. For these alliances to succeed, the partners' perceptions of these variables need to be congruent so that expectations on each side of the dyad are reasonably similar. However, what happens when the cultural backgrounds of each channel partner are substantially different? This study empirically examines whether cultural differences do affect trust, commitment, and cooperation in international marketing channel alliances between U.S. exporters and their foreign distribution partners. Based on the survey responses from 149 U.S. exporters with marketing alliances abroad, cultural differences do affect trust, commitment, and cooperation. The greater the cultural differences between channel partners, the lower the levels of trust, commitment, and cooperation. Managerial implications are discussed, and study limitations are identified.     

Corrigendum to “The effect of spatial variables on the economic and environmental performance of bioenergy production chains” [Int. J. Prod. Econ. 131 (2011) 224-233]

Using a knowledge-based perspective, we identify and test the conditions enabling inter-firm learning in the aerospace supply chain. We focus on buyers accessing knowledge from their suppliers. Hypotheses are tested via a cross-sectional survey of supplier relationships of prime contractors in Canada's aerospace industry. The variables identified as having a significant impact on inter-firm learning are as follows: the quality of the buyer–supplier relationship in terms of trust, collaboration, socialization and information sharing; the proprietary links between both firms; and the use of ITC collaboration tools.     

Transfer of market knowledge in a channel relationship: Impacts of attitudinal commitment and satisfaction

This paper attempts to explain how a manufacturer's attitudinal commitment and a distributor's kind and degree of satisfaction have an impact on the transferring of market knowledge from the distributor in a channel relationship. Using data from 225 paired distributors and manufacturers in the Chinese household appliances entity, six of our seven research hypotheses were supported. Results of the study show that a distributor's economic satisfaction directly promotes market knowledge transfer, while a distributor's social satisfaction will enhance market knowledge transfer only when positive economic satisfaction already exists. Furthermore, both the calculative commitment and the loyalty commitment of a manufacturer have inverse U-shaped relationships with a distributor's economic satisfaction, and are negatively and positively related, respectively, to the distributor's social satisfaction. The study thus points out the distinct roles of economic satisfaction and social satisfaction and their interaction in market knowledge transfer, and the insightful impacts of calculative and loyalty commitment on economic and social satisfaction. These findings provide new theoretical thinking about channel relationship management and the business practices of manufacturers.     

What Makes a Good Export Channel Relationship?

Within international business, distribution channel management is a key concern. Relationships between exporting firms and other members of the international distribution channel can significantly impede or enhance performance in export markets. This study adopts an inductive research approach to examine what makes a good relationship in distribution channels in Southeast Asian markets (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia). An extensive range of relationship elements are identified. The relationship between the two key elements of trust and mutual benefit is found to be reciprocal in nature and dynamic. Necessary conditions for, and influences on, development of trust and mutual benefit are identified.     

Different recipes for success in business relationships

Companies need to manage business relationships successfully in order to stay competitive. Drawing on configurational logic, this study shows that companies can improve their relationship performance through leveraging the structure of their business relationships. However, relationship structures must align with the company's business strategy. To date, research has focused on individual characteristics of business relationships, but little is known about relational configurations, namely the interplay between different business relationship characteristics on the one hand, and the firm's underlying business strategy on the other. We apply Hoffmann's (2007) strategy typology, namely shaping, adapting, and stabilization strategy types, to operationalize different business strategies. Drawing on a sample of 658 business service companies and employing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study confirms the existence of different recipes for success, that is, multiple equifinal configurations leading to relationship performance. For each of the three business strategies, different combinations of relationship characteristics are successful, each encompassing a distinct configuration of core and periphery conditions. While firms following an adapting strategy should stress behavioral commitment above all other relationship characteristics, the two remaining business strategies instead rely predominantly on different factors such as trust and communication. This study contributes to business marketing theory and practice by highlighting different ways to develop business relationships successfully.