Document Type
Journal Article
Department/Unit
Department of Marketing
Title
Interpersonal factors as drivers of quality and performance in western–Hong Kong interorganizational business relationships
Language
English
Abstract
The authors report the findings of a study conducted among a sample of 202 Hong Kong–based Chinese importing companies regarding their working relationships with Western export manufacturers. In particular, the study emphasizes the effect of interpersonal factors on financial performance through the intervening roles of intercompany trust and relationship quality. Using structural equation modeling, the authors confirm that (1) several interpersonal relational dimensions—namely, personal communication (sijiao), personal credibility (xinyong), and personal affection (ganqing)—positively influence interfirm trust; (2) trust plays an instrumental role in enhancing the components of the interfirm relationship quality (i.e., cooperation, commitment, and satisfaction); (3) interfirm relationship quality is positively related to superior financial performance; and (4) most of the associations between each of the interpersonal factors and interfirm trust were moderated by the importer's size and foreign supplier's origin as well as by the length of the relationship and which party initiated the relationship. The authors extract several conclusions and implications from the findings and provide directions for further research.
Keywords
buyer–seller relationships, exporting/importing, guanxi, trust, performance
Publication Date
2015
Source Publication Title
Journal of International Marketing
Volume
23
Issue
1
Start Page
23
End Page
49
Publisher
American Marketing Association
DOI
10.1509/jim.14.0008
Link to Publisher's Edition
ISSN (print)
1069031X
ISSN (electronic)
15477215
Recommended Citation
Barnes, Bradley R., Leonidas S. Leonidou, Yee Man Noel Siu, and Constantinos N. Leonidou. "Interpersonal factors as drivers of quality and performance in western–Hong Kong interorganizational business relationships." Journal of International Marketing 23.1 (2015): 23-49.