Antecedents of importer relationship performance in Latin America

Abstract

Emerging market importers are increasingly engaging in relationships with foreign suppliers.Nevertheless, characteristics of the institutional and cultural environment of countries may affect relationship behavior. Furthermore, research on relationship marketing primarily focuses on the marketing activities of exporters from developed countries and much less attention is paid to the import side of the exchange process. Thus, the objective of this study is to empirically examine importer relationship performance in a Latin American context. This article proposes and tests a conceptual model that includes the antecedents and outcomes of trust and commitment with a survey of Chilean importers. The model uses confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to develop the construct measures and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the model. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the driving forces of trust and commitment and their influence on importing firms' performance in an emerging market context.

The power roots and drivers of infidelity in international business relationships

“…The results also confirm the positive link between distance and infidelity by the importer ( = .18, t= 2.22, p=.02), giving support to H3. This demonstrates that, as the importer becomes more distant by refusing information flow from and to the exporter, the value s/he places on the relationship decreases (Skarmeas et al, 2016) and his/her intention to continue the relationship diminishes (Bianchi & Saleh, 2011;Leonidou et al, 2006). The geographical and psychic distance between the exporter and importer probably facilitates efforts to search for other alternatives.…”

“Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Understanding the Antecedents to Buyer Commitment in the Context of the Us Eyecare Industry

“…For example, managers may feel uncertain about the direction of future technologies, about changing consumer preferences and social norms, or about the operational impacts of changing regulations. Unpredictability may encourage a firm to make investments, to introduce deep changes, and/or assume important commitments (Aragón-Correa & Sharma, 2003;Bianchi & Saleh, 2011).…”

Incentives, opportunism and behavioral uncertainty in electricity industries

“…When uncertainty increases, specific transactions are better organized in the hybrid form, and with even larger degrees of behavioral uncertainty, the match with internal organization is more efficient. Other studies emphasize the role of trust and commitment between the parties to a contractual relation in mitigating the opportunistic inclinations of the contracting parties (Bianchi and Saleh, 2011;Liu et al, 2010;Söllner, 1999). Buvik and Reve (2001), De Vita et al (2010), and Söllner (1999) argue that an antecedent of opportunism is an asymmetrical structure of asset-specific investments in comparison to investments in specific assets by both parties to the contractual relation.…”