Competence and trust guardians as key elements of building trust in east-west joint ventures in Russia

This paper summarises the author 's doctoral research on the development of interpersonal/interorganisational trust in relationships between expatriate and Russian staff working in east-west enterprises in Russia. There is strong evidence from a variety of researchers to suggest that in order for western businesses investing in Russia to succeed, the dif.cult process of building trust needs to be understood and managed since in the Russian business climate western standards and norms of ethical business have not yet been established. According to research.ndings, western investors doing business in Russia and the long-term, personal trust that characterises family and friend relationships more congenial and more productive than formal, arm's-length contacts and contracts. In such a context, it becomes important to identify what creates and destroys trust in the post-Soviet business environment. This paper describes the causal factors leading to trust or lack of trust in relationships within western-invested strategic alliances in Russia. The key relationship under consideration is the one between expatriate western staff and managers seconded to the venture on the one hand, and their local Russian staff, counterparts and superiors on the other.     

Focusing on Ethics and Broadening our Intellectual Base

Declining levels of stakeholder trust in business are of concern to business executives and scholars for legitimacy- and performance-related effects. Research in the area of stakeholder trust in business is nascent; therefore, the trust formation process has been rarely examined at the stakeholder level. Furthermore, the role of personal values as one significant influence in trust formation has been under-researched. In this paper, we develop a contingency model for stakeholder trust formation based on the effects of stakeholder-specific vulnerability and personal values of the trustor. Using a factorial vignette methodology, we find that Schwartz’s (J Soc Issues 50:19–45, 1994) value set interacts with stakeholder roles so that trustworthiness signals of competence and character play differing roles during trust formation. These results inform stakeholder trust research, organizational trust research, and research in personal values. The research also informs managers tasked with rebuilding stakeholder trust in business.     

影响我国B2C消费者对在线商家信任的研究框架分析

分析目前电子商务信任研究中所存在的主要问题,探知我国消费者不愿意网络购买的主要原因是不信任电子商务环境的观点,构造出针对我国发展现状的电子商务信任研究分阶段模型,明确分阶段模型中各阶段研究的重点所在。     

Trust and Co-operation in Business Relationship Development: Exploring the Influence of National Values

This paper makes an initial exploration of whether and to what extent different national values may affect the development of business relationships between individuals in different countries, by specifically examining the development of trust and co-operation between people. It first identifies key factors that may determine the nature and effect of trust in business relationships. Trust based on calculus, knowledge, and identification are distinguished. Inhibitions to co-operation are also identified, which include the perceptions of economic value, of social returns, of risk, and of competence of the potential co-operating parties. A model of trust formation and its impact on co-operation enabling detailed interpretation of empirical data is presented.

Notions of national values developed in previous research are outlined, and a set of formal tabulated propositions regarding how these may be expected to influence different aspects of trust formation in different European countries is developed. The relevance and applicability in understanding different approaches to business development in different countries is then explored. The trust relationships of three matched case companies, one each from France, Holland and the United Kingdom are examined in terms of the propositions detailed, by means of verbal protocol analysis. Marked differences were found between the three individual business leaders, and these largely matched the theoretical propositions generated. Different types of trust relationships were sought and required by the individuals examined, and they each needed different co-operation criteria to be addressed before they would co-operate.

This study is only exploratory, and stereotypes need to be avoided, but more concrete propositions can be suggested as to why and how national values influence business to business relationships. National values appear to influence the relative importance placed by individuals in the types of trust they require to co-operate with others, and the criteria they implicitly employ in deciding whether to co-operate or not.     

Trusting and Monitoring Business Partners throughout the Relationship Life Cycle

Purpose: The goal of this research is to understand the theoretical and empirical confluence of multi-dimensional trust with the role of monitoring as business partnerships unfold and evolve dynamically throughout the course of the relationship life cycle.

Methodology: A pilot study is run in which in-depth interviews are conducted with managers to glean their insights regarding the theoretical questions and to verify terminology for survey items. A large-scale survey study is then conducted to test hypotheses about the relationships among the focal constructs. The participants in both studies are real procurement professionals reporting on their primary supplier relationships. The qualitative study and the samples of real world managers enhance the external validity of this research.

Findings: In early stages of business relationships, monitoring and benevolence trust interact to positively impact business performance. Continued monitoring in later stages interact with benevolence trust to performance detriment. Conversely, monitoring and competence aspects of trust hurt business performance in earlier life stages.

Research Implications: Theoretical frameworks that include the constructs of multidimensional trust, monitoring, and relationship life cycle stages can build on the nuanced 3-dimensional contingencies established in this research. In particular, this research furthers the concepts of monitoring and the relationship life cycle.

Practical Implications: There is a time and a place to trust one's business partners, and a time and a place to verify their trustworthiness. As business partnerships are forged, monitoring and benevolence trust can be particularly fruitful.

Contribution: In this research, the authors build on the business marketing literature that has begun to delineate the benevolence and competence dimensions of trust in business relationships; they demonstrate the role that partner monitoring has in maintaining business commitments; and establish how these effects are modified over the stages of the relationship life cycle; i.e., from exploration, to build-up, maturity, and decline.     

Building customer trust and loyalty: an empirical study in a retailing context

This paper integrates the seller's characteristics and the consumer's individual characteristics in testing the person-to-person and person-to-firm effects of trust on loyalty in the department store. A multidimensional model of the behavioural components of trustworthiness is used to examine their differential effects on consumer trust. The results reveal that the effects of behavioural components of trustworthiness on trust in salespersons and trust in department stores are different. Trust in salespersons contributes to the trust in the department stores they work for. In addition, although both trust in department stores and trust in salespersons are expected to enhance customer loyalty, person-to-person trust has stronger influence on loyalty than does person-to-firm trust. The findings also suggest that customers' individual characteristics should be considered in assessing the role of trust in business relationships other than sellers' characteristics.     

Franchisees' trust in and satisfaction with franchise partnerships

This paper aims to establish the relationship between the antecedents of trust, trust itself, and franchisee satisfaction. Taking its cue from power-dependence, international business, and social exchange theories, the paper contributes to the franchise literature by offering a more comprehensive theoretical perspective to aid understanding of trust development in and satisfaction with franchise partnerships. Drawing on a multi-sector survey of Turkish franchisees, the study provides empirical evidence of the impact of the franchisors' role performance and cultural sensitivity on franchisees' trust in and satisfaction with franchise partnerships. Furthermore, this research demonstrates the central role of communication in the development of franchisees' trust.     

Social trust and angel investors' decisions: A multilevel analysis across nations

The decisions made by angel investors are embedded in and influenced by their institutional settings. This paper advances a multilevel model of the direct and indirect effects of social trust on individuals' angel-investment decisions. It is postulated that two dimensions of social trust, namely the level and radius, can enhance information transmission, collaboration, and sanctioning mechanisms within a society. Consequently, they facilitate angel investment and moderate the relationship between it and individual factors. A multilevel model of data from 191,907 individuals across 25 countries shows that individuals in countries with a high level of trust are more likely to make angel investments. Whereas both the level of trust and the radius of trust are found to heighten the positive relationship between an individual's perceived entrepreneurial skills and angel investment, it is interesting to note that these factors weaken the relationship between the perception of new business opportunities and angel investment. These direct and moderating effects are robust after controlling for wealth, cultural values, and other factors. This study contributes to the crossover between research on entrepreneurship and social-trust research.     

Business ethics: a SWOT exercise

This paper reflects on the present state of business ethics. The question has become more complex in an era of globalisation: cross‐border activities make it particularly difficult for companies to formulate effective ethical programmes which are true to core corporate values. The author presents his reflection in terms of a SWOT analysis, examining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats likely to be experienced by business ethics in the new millennium. He concludes that the challenge for business ethics is to work for global agreement on common values and common approaches to issues of integrity and trust in global business.     

Operationalizing Trust,Reliance, and Dependence in Business Relationships: Responding to the Ongoing Naming and Cross-Level Problems

Purpose: This article is to test the proposition that the 3 conceptually related constructs of trust, reliance, and dependence are distinct from each other and to test the proposition that the quality of business relationships can be measured with a formative index incorporating trust and reliance.

Methodology/Approach: The authors' propositions are tested with a survey sample of 221 firms in the U.K. construction industry. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to analyze the survey data.

Findings: The independence of the 3 focal constructs of trust, reliance, and dependence is confirmed. The formative index is found suitable for evaluating the level of relationship quality in which reliance carries more significant weight than trust.

Research Implications: The separation of the overall construct of “trust” into trust at interpersonal level and reliance at interorganizational level, as found in this study, overcomes the problem existing in past studies that researchers rarely specify at which level trust operates. The clear conceptual distinction between reliance and dependence as found in this study implies that although both operate at the organizational level, they do not have overlapping boundaries. The finding that reliance is a more important impact factor than trust in constructing the formative index supports the notions that reliance is a necessary and sufficient condition for developing sustainable business relationships, and trust is an insufficient condition to sustain an ongoing business relationship.

Practical Implications: Reliance sets the keynote of the business relationship. In contrast, trust as the interpersonal variable only acts as the facilitator to create a favorable social environment. Nevertheless, both trust and reliance have a significant and positive weight in the relationship quality index formed. This means that a business relationship with high levels of both trust and reliance is particularly resilient and stable and is the most successful and desirable one which is frequently oriented toward the long run.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The confirmation of the difference between trust and reliance makes an important contribution to the study of trust in business to business marketing by showing that what has traditionally been treated as theoverall construct of trust can and should be regarded as being made up of two separate constructs: interpersonal trust and interorganizational reliance. The difference between reliance and dependence as an additional finding makes another important contribution by providing conceptual clarity of the two constructs and confirming that there is no overlapping boundary between them. The formative index and the relative importance of its components are another important contribution of this study.     

The formation of trust and commitment in business relationships in the Middle East: Understanding Et-Moone relationships

In recent years, different forms of relationships that are culturally bond have emerged such as; ‘Guanxi’ in China (Liu et al., 2008, Luo, 2007, Yau et al., 2000), ‘Blat’ in Russia (Michailova & Worm, 2003) and ‘Boon Koon’ in Thailand (Pimpa, 2008). While these special forms of relationships are culturally bond, studies have also suggested that the development of a business relationship is directly linked to the development of trust and commitment (Wilson, 1995). Considering that these forms are culturally bond, studies from the Middle East on the formation of trust and commitment within relationship development are largely absent. We argue that understanding the dynamic formation of trust and commitment will help to better understand Et-Moone business relationships within the specific cultural context of the Middle East. Thus, this study combines the insights from the theory of life-cycle (Dwyer et al., 1987, Ford, 1980) and the theory of trust and commitment by Morgan and Hunt (1994) to understand business relationships in the Middle East. Based on qualitative research using a longitudinal approach and 33 semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in 2003, this study finds the relationship between trust and commitment to be far more dynamic and changeable as the relationship evolves. Also, it finds that trust and commitment are major factors in establishing Et-Moone relationships.     

The Influence of Trust on the Trilogy of Knowledge Creation,Sharing, and Transfer

This empirical article focuses on the phenomenon of trust and its influence on the trilogy of the following interrelated factors that are crucial to the success of international business cooperations and their economic results: knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and knowledge transfer. Trust is expected and desired by many business partners, but it is also abused by others. The term trust, due to its intangible and invisible nature, is often ignored or superficially treated by companies. However, when trust does not exist between international cooperation partners or is not nurtured, negative relationships and financial implications occur. These lacunae could be explained due to the difficulty in quantifying as a financial asset. The article presents qualitative findings (from two empirical research studies): (1) the implications of trust development for knowledge transfer between Russian‐ and German‐speaking companies, and (2) the influence of trust on knowledge sharing in the completion of an Austrian construction project. The authors applied phenomenological interviewing and observations of critical incidents or significant occurrences, combined with comparative content analysis. The positive influence of trust on the aforementioned trilogy results in higher levels of the involved companies’ innovativeness, culminating in higher levels of competitive advantage and profitability. The empirical findings are presented to explain the influence of trust on knowledge creation, sharing, and transfer, which have a bearing on intercultural cooperations. One innovative finding relates to the differentiated perception of emotions and the implications that this entails. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The economics of trust, norms and networks

The theme of this paper is that trust, norms and networks are critical contributors to social capital, itself a critical determinant of economic growth. Numerous factors have contributed in recent years to the decline of social capital, restraining business and national competitiveness. It is in the interests and part of the responsibility of business to address this issue; this provides an economic imperative – complementary to the ethical imperative – for business to take socially responsible governance seriously.     

商业信托会计监管问题的再思考

面对经济环境的深刻变化,我国商业信托会计监管表现出一定程度的滞后性,建立健全有效的会计监督制度已成为商业信托健康发展的当务之急。以新制度经济学理论为基础,从商业信托会计监管的角度,分析我国商业信托会计监管的现状与问题,是重构我国商业信托会计监管制度的有效途径。     

Virtual Instant Global Entrepreneurship

International entrepreneurship must be hard, because so few firms attempt it. If true, perhaps it is hard because it requires knowledge about people and places far away. It is hard because it requires mastering processes to handle business across borders. And it is hard because it requires trust in the processes and eventually in the customers elsewhere. These three elements, knowledge, mastery and trust in international business are essential to the success of international entrepreneurship for SMEs.     

文化价值观与浙商财富积累

文章利用211份浙商调查和访谈问卷,从公平、信任、社会责任和财富观等方面检验了企业家文化价值取向与企业家财富积累之间的关系。文章发现,较多承担社会责任的企业家,获得周围人信任度高、对合作伙伴信任的企业家以及具有公平感和利他主义精神的企业家,其企业更容易发展壮大,宗教信仰和财富观对浙商财富积累未发现影响。     

Information Technology Competence and Value Creation in Supplier-Customer Relationships

Abstract

IT has been proven to have revolutionized business reality in its totality. As such, modern information technologies (IT) may also have an impact on business relationships. However, a detailed analysis of the impact of IT on relationships is still missing. This paper, therefore, provides a discussion of the interplay between IT and relationship variables, i.e., relationship functions, trust and relationship value. An analysis of over 100 German supplier-buyer relationships shows that the impact of IT is not as straightforward as all too often postulated. Moderate levels of IT competence are proven to be the worst-case scenario and as such the main managerial conclusion of this paper is to avoid half-hearted utilization of IT in business relationships.     

The Honorable Merchant and Customer Trust: Key Dimensions for International Business Success

What does it mean to be honorable in an international business context, and why is it important? The history of business honorability is discussed in addition to its applicability to today's expectations. A solution of trust bridges is suggested to find commonalities between two parties in order to strengthen their network and relationship with one another. These postulates were investigated during the American Marketing Association's Special Interest Group conference on “The Honorable Merchant in International Marketing” hosted in Cancun, Mexico, in the spring of 2014. At the conference, a three‐round Delphi study was conducted to analyze the various global perspectives participants had on honorable practices in academia and business and their relation to international marketing. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The mechanism of trust and distrust formation and their relational outcomes

By incorporating distrust as a distinct entity from trust, the current study proposes a mechanism by which trust and distrust are formed and manifested in behavioral intentions in the context of business-to-consumer (B2C) Internet exchange relationships. Specifically this paper investigates the way consumers’ evaluations of an e-vendor's business operations relate to their judgments of trustworthiness (i.e., competence and benevolence of the e-vendor) and how such judgments shape consumer trust and distrust. This paper also examines two different behavioral intentions (i.e., consumers’ self-disclosure and willingness to commit) as outcomes of consumer trust and distrust. The proposed relationships are tested across two online purchasing contexts, books and clothing. Our framework receives strong support from the data. In particular, results support the proposition that trust and distrust are shaped by different dimensions of trustworthiness, and trust affects behavior intentions differently from distrust.