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Performance implication of supplier relationship quality: a structural analysis

Jie Yang (University of Houston-Victoria, Katy, Texas, USA)
Hongming Xie (Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China)
Jifu Wang (University of Houston-Victoria, Katy, Texas, USA)
Yingnan Yang (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)

Benchmarking: An International Journal

ISSN: 1463-5771

Article publication date: 6 August 2020

Issue publication date: 19 January 2021

428

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the impact of supplier relationship quality on curtailing opportunism and promoting cooperation between the exchange partners. It also investigates the contingent impact of contract specificity on the relationships and assesses performance implications of relationship quality for both buyer and its major supplier in the exchange.

Design/methodology/approach

Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were performed based on data collected from manufacturers in a survey. The hypotheses were tested using path analysis.

Findings

The findings of this study indicate a pivotal role of supplier relationship quality in suppressing opportunism and enhancing cooperation between exchange parties, which lead to dyadic performance. Furthermore, the effect of supplier relationship quality is strengthened by contract specificity.

Originality/value

This study adds value to the existing streams of studies in several ways. First, informed by the nexus of relational capital theory and transaction cost economics, the authors emphasize the pivotal role of relationship quality in curtailing opportunism and fostering cooperation and the moderating effect of contract specificity on the above linkages. Second, this study provides empirical evidence of the mechanism of the effect of contract specificity on opportunism and cooperation.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The second author of this paper was supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (71772163 and 71673240) and Guangzhou Philosophy and Social Science Foundation (2020GZYB94).

Citation

Yang, J., Xie, H., Wang, J. and Yang, Y. (2021), "Performance implication of supplier relationship quality: a structural analysis", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 28-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-04-2020-0146

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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