ABSTRACT

Purpose: The extant literature on business-to-business relationship has shown that trust, relationship duration, and social bond are the key drivers of relationship satisfaction. Notwithstanding, studies on the examination of when and why these variables translate into successful relationship are still scarce and need further exploration. This research investigates the conditions under which trust and social bonds influence satisfaction in a business-to-business relationship.

Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from 159 footwear producers using a structured questionnaire. Four hypotheses were developed and tested using hierarchical multiple regression.

Findings: The authors found support for all hypotheses. Social bonds and longevity are crucial in enhancing supplier relationship satisfaction. Likewise, the role of social bonds in inducing supplier satisfaction heightens over time. However, the positive association between exchange partner trustworthiness and supplier satisfaction works well only in high degree of dependence situation.

Research limitations/implications: The study was based on the report on monadic data and cross-sectional design. Future research should adopt longitudinal design to overcome the shortcomings.

Theoretical implications: This study advances the social exchange theory (SET) by elucidating the condition in which social bonds and trust fail to produce relationship satisfaction. Social bonds fail to enhance relationship satisfaction at the beginning of the relationship. Moreover, trust alone cannot be good enough to boost relationship satisfaction in a lose dependence context.

Managerial implications: This study acclaimed a relationship-driven approach as the best choice for those firms who aspire to build a good relationship with their exchange partner. Managers should understand how and when to develop a strong social relationship with their trading partners, and recognize the situations in which to deal with honest and fair business partners in an exchange relationship.

Originality/Contribution: This is one of the very few studies, which have been conducted to investigate the conditions under which the relational variable influences satisfaction in a business-to-business relationships context. It expanded the boundary of the current literature as it investigated the moderating role of relationship duration and dependence in the relationship between relational constructs and relationship satisfaction.

摘要

目的：有关企业对企业关系的现有文献表明，信任，关系持续时间和社会纽带是关系满意度的关键驱动力。尽管如此，关于何时以及为什么将这些变量转化为成功的关系的研究仍然很少，需要进一步探索。这项研究调查了信任和社会纽带在企业对企业关系中影响满意度的条件。

设计/方法/方法：数据是使用结构化问卷从159个鞋类生产商那里收集的。使用分层多元回归法开发并检验了四个假设。

结论：作者发现所有假设都成立。社会纽带和长寿对于提高供应商关系满意度至关重要。同样，随着时间的流逝，社会纽带在提高供应商满意度中的作用也越来越高。但是，交换伙伴信任度和供应商满意度之间的正相关关系只有在高度依赖的情况下才能很好地发挥作用。

研究的局限性/意义：该研究基于关于单子数据和横截面设计的报告。未来的研究应采用纵向设计来克服这些缺点。

理论意义：这项研究通过阐明社会纽带和信任未能产生关系满意度的条件，进一步推进了社会交换理论（SET）。在建立关系时，社会纽带无法提高关系满意度。此外，在失去依赖性的情况下，仅靠信任不足以提高关系满意度。

对管理的影响：这项研究称赞关系驱动的方法是那些渴望与交换伙伴建立良好关系的公司的最佳选择。管理者应了解如何以及何时与贸易伙伴建立牢固的社会关系，并认识到在交流关系中与诚实和公平的商业伙伴打交道的情况。

原创性/贡献：这是为数不多的研究之一，旨在研究在企业对企业关系的背景下关系变量影响满意度的条件。当研究关系持续时间和依赖性在关系结构和关系满意度之间的关系中的调节作用时，它扩展了当前文献的范围。