Purpose

Relationship marketing has been playing an important role in the development of marketing theory and practice. Though the concept has been extensively applied in international marketing in understanding the dynamics of exporter-importer relationships, few studies have looked at dyadic data to investigate the impact of mutuality of relational variables on the exporter-importer relationships. The objective of this study is to understand the impact of mutuality of key relational variables on exporter-importer relationship performance. A dyadic model of mutuality is proposed. The model highlights the impact of balance, level and quality of perceptual bi-directionality of relational variables.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested using dyadic data collected from exporter-importer relationships involving Australian exporters and their Southeast Asian import partners through a cross-sectional, quantitative survey. Mutuality of relationship constructs was measured using the perceptual bi-directionality (PBD) method.

Findings

The results support the central hypothesis that mutuality of relational constructs has an impact on relationship performance.

Originality/value

The study is the first to apply the perceptual bi-directionality method to measure mutuality of relational constructs in an exporter-importer setting. The study contributes to the general understanding of international business and exporter-importer relationship performance in particular.

中文翻译：

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出口商-进口商关系中相互性的影响

目的

关系营销在营销理论和实践的发展中一直扮演着重要的角色。尽管该概念已广泛应用于国际营销以了解出口商-进口商关系的动态，但很少有研究通过二元数据来调查相关变量的相互性对出口商-进口商关系的影响。本研究的目的是了解关键关系变量的相互性对出口商-进口商关系绩效的影响。提出了一种相互关系的二元模型。该模型突出了关系变量感知双向性的平衡、水平和质量的影响。

设计/方法/方法

该模型使用从涉及澳大利亚出口商及其东南亚进口伙伴的出口商-进口商关系中收集的二元数据进行了测试，该数据通过横断面定量调查进行。使用感知双向性 (PBD) 方法测量关系结构的相互性。

发现

结果支持中心假设，即关系结构的相互性对关系绩效有影响。

原创性/价值

该研究是第一个应用感知双向性方法来衡量出口商 - 进口商环境中关系结构的相互性的研究。该研究有助于全面了解国际业务，尤其是出口商-进口商关系的表现。