Jiang, Z (2010) Exploring the roles of trust, reliance and commitment in business relationships. PhD thesis, University of Manchester, UK.
Abstract
Despite the significance of trust in organisational exchanges, research on trust still has two main limitations given the intrinsic deficiencies of trust in interorganisational relationships. To develop the concept of interorganisational reliance, this study uses an argument proposed in the literature and validates the distinct importance of reliance vis-a-vis trust in business relationships. This study adopts both qualitative and quantitative techniques to address the research questions. First, a total of 20 interviews with company buyers were conducted to understand reliance and thereby develop a new scale to measure this construct. To explore the roles of trust, reliance and commitment in business relationships, a sample of 636 responses from 404 firms was collected through a survey in the UK construction industry. The analysis using structural equation modelling substantiates the positive effects of trust and affective commitment in social exchanges, and identifies the positive effects of reliance and behavioural commitment on economic satisfaction and long-term orientation. However, the individual-level constructs of trust and affective commitment do not have direct significant effects on long-term orientation. Findings support reliance as a necessary and sufficient condition for the development of sustainable business relationships, indicating that reliance is a more central theme in business relationships.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | UK; structural equation modelling; trust |
| Index terms: | interorganizational relationship, construction industry, interorganizational, satisfaction, business relationship, interview, survey, structural equation modelling, commitment |
| Subjects: | strategic management, psychology, business, data collection methods, project delivery, statistical analysis, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Project Management, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 CTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here