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The primary aim of this research is to explore buyer‐supplier relationships within a service sector context.

To address the primary aim, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilised. A questionnaire was issued to selected buyer and supplier groups in order to determine relationship issues associated with insurance claims. The questionnaire was complemented by a number of semi‐structured interviews with buyers and suppliers across each spend category.

The results of this research indicate that there are significant gaps between buyer and supplier expectations concerning how relationships should evolve and that the issues of power and trust will need to be explored in greater depth if relationships are to be optimised.

This research is of practical use to service sector companies attempting to examine how to develop effective buyer‐supplier relationships. It is of particular use to service buyer operations within the insurance sector, that is moving from the traditional cash compensation approach to a replacement goods approach.

Very little has been written about buyer‐supplier relationships in the insurance sector and as such this paper provides an insight into issues relating to such relationships within this unique service sector context.

The purpose of this paper is to test the moderated-mediated model using a dataset drawn from 204 manufacturing firms in Australia, and Hayes' PROCESS macro software was used for analyzing the research model.

This study examines how firms can leverage the strategic value of their key supplier for improving their product performance by developing strategic collaborations with the key supplier as a mediating factor. Furthermore, it also seeks to understand the role that commitment plays in strategic relationships by testing how the mediating role of strategic collaboration is moderated by the level of buyer-suppliers relational capital.

The findings show that strategic collaborations mediate the relationship between the strategic value of key supplier and buyer's product performance, and the mediating effect is moderated by the relational capital between the buyer and the key supplier in such a way that the stronger the relational capital the stronger the indirect effect of strategic value of key supplier on buyer's product performance.

The findings show that firms could derive significant benefits from the strategic value of their key supplier in improving their product performance. However, the benefits can only be realized if firms can build successful strategic collaborations in the first place. At the same time, this study also demonstrates the importance of relational capital in terms of commitment and trust with the key supplier that influences the effectiveness of strategic collaborations in realizing the outcome of the collaborations.

This study addresses the gap in the literature by disentangling the complex relationship between a key supplier's strategic value and a buyer's product performance and the role that both collaboration and relational capital play in this relationship. By integrating strategic collaborations and relational capital of buyer-supplier relationships, this study not only confirms the links by testing key supplier's strategic value, strategic collaboration and product performance, but also extends the previous studies by incorporating the moderating role of relational capital as a contingent factor.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how knowledge hiding affects buyer-supplier relationship performance in the supply chain.

This study uses a multiple case study methodology. Overall, 26 semi-structured interviews (13 dyadic interviews) with managers of buying and supplying firms (who have been a victim of knowledge hiding) were undertaken.

Based on comprehensive data analysis, results reveal seven factors that adversely affect buyer-supplier relationship performance (lack of trust, lack of cooperation and lack of commitment). In addition, results reveal that such factors reduced the firm’s business performance in terms of low-quality products, increased lead time and higher costs.

This study has some limitations. First, the results of this study are not generalizable to a broader population. Second, this study explores behavioral patterns with respect to United Arab Emirates culture only.

Firms can use the findings from this study to understand how knowledge hiding in a buyer-supplier relationship adversely affects a buyer-supplier relationship performance.

A considerable weakness in buyer-supplier relationship literature is a need for a study examining how knowledge hiding harms buyer-supplier relationship performance in the supply chain. This paper addresses this gap.

Grounding on resource orchestration theory, this paper aims to study the relationship between the way buying companies use their supplier performance measurement systems and the performance improvements obtained from suppliers, with relationship trust identified as a mediator in the previous link.

The authors design a conceptual model and test it through structural equation modelling on a final sample of 147 buyer-supplier responses, collected by means of a dyadic survey.

Results suggest that the buyer company may achieve the most by balancing a diagnostic and interactive use of the measurement system, as they are both positively related to supplier performance improvement. Furthermore, relationship trust acts as a mediator in case of the interactive use, but not for the diagnostic. This type of use negatively affects relationship trust, due to its mechanistic use in the buyer-supplier relationship.

The authors’ results contribute to the current academic debate about supplier performance measurement system design and use by analyzing the impact of different supplier performance measurement system uses, and highlighting their relative impact on relationship trust and supplier performance improvement. From a methodological perspective, adopting a dyadic data collection process increases the robustness of the findings.

The purpose of this study is to explore the dynamics of trust creation in an early buyer–supplier relationship phase at the interpersonal level. The authors use a brand-based communication approach to investigate the trust–risk–commitment link.

Survey data from 204 senior managers in small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Australia were collected and analyzed.

Results indicate that ability, credibility, benevolence and persona of supplier brand representatives (SBRs) relate significantly to a buyers’ trust in SBR, leading to diminished perceived risk, and increased relationship commitment between the parties. These findings support the importance of using individual representatives who are able to broadcast their supplier’s brand values, and increase trust in exploratory buyer–supplier relationships.

This research focused on SMEs in Australia, investigating exploratory phase of the interpersonal relationships. Future research can investigate large firms interacting in different relationship phases in the light of brand-based communication.

The study describes several strategies for both buying and supplying firms to use, to best use brand-based communication as a means to build trust in the early phases of buyer–supplier relationships.

Prior research has focused on interorganizational trust and established or mature buyer–supplier relationships. This study investigates the initial phase of buyer–supplier relationships, and at the interpersonal exchange level. It also incorporates a role for brand-based communication in the buyer–supplier relationship which has received limited attention in the literature.

This paper deals with the perspective of autoparts suppliers in the Brazilian automotive industry on advances and barriers to renewed buyer‐supplier relations under lean production practices, as uncovered by a comprehensive case study research. Suppliers perceived advances in the relationships as far as operational issues were concerned, but less so in terms of strategic issues. They also identified both organizational, firm‐specific barriers and environmental barriers originating in the peculiarities of the local economic and business environment. These results are discussed in view of the dyadic relationship with buyers, leading to the identification of elements that help to formulate an explanation for the recent path of buyer‐supplier relations in the Brazilian automotive industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the differential influence of buyer and supplier relationship-specific investments (RSI) on a buyer’s relationship governance decisions.

Based on transaction economics and social exchange theories (SET), the authors develop a framework to understand how and when buyer and supplier RSI influence governance decisions. This model was tested using a survey of 301 Information Technology (IT) procurement professionals across a multitude of industries.

This research shows that buyer and supplier RSI impact governance decisions differently. Supplier investments are positively associated with relationship formalization when goals between both parties are shared. Buyer investments are more strongly related to formalization in technologically uncertain environments.

This research adds to the literature by integrating arguments from both transaction cost and SET to hypothesize why buyer and supplier investments have a differential impact on relationship governance decisions. In line with these arguments, it ultimately demonstrates conditions that render such investments more/less influential.

This study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of cognitive trust during the expansion phase in buyer–supplier relationships. It takes a global approach and examines cultural nuances between developed nation and emerging market firms by including participants from the United States, China, and Brazil. The results demonstrate the importance of trust in building social capital and the central role which trust plays in shaping business relationships in all studied cultural contexts. There are similarities and differences across countries. Results support relationship marketing theory by demonstrating the importance of conflict resolution, communication frequency, and social bond in building buyer–supplier relationships in the United States, which in turn increase cooperation between partners. Results also indicate that in China, social bond plays a much greater role in building trust, which in turn increases cooperation only to the extent that it serves as a mechanism to secure committed relationships. In Brazil, results show that conflict resolution is the most important factor in building trust. It also mediates the relationship between communication frequency and trust, as well as drives cooperation positively. Overall, trust is found to influence exchange of confidential communication and increases commitment between partners in all three countries.

Given the continued growth in the globalization of production, working conditions in global supply chains have come under increased scrutiny. Although there has been much debate about corporate codes of conduct and monitoring procedures, the question of how buyers influence their suppliers’ working conditions at the factory level remains poorly understood. Using a unique data set based on monitoring by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and original survey data collected in Cambodia's garment sector, this study shows that the main channel linking buyers and supplier compliance performance is the nature of their relationships. Market-based relationships mediated through sourcing agents are systematically associated with poorer compliance performance. In particular, when a reputation-conscious buyer is sourcing from a factory, it has a positive effect on compliance, and their presence appears to condition relationship variables. Deterrence and learning channels are not supported by the evidence. The findings signal the need to pay more attention to the nature of buyer–supplier relationships if we seek to improve labor standard compliance. Market-based relationships motivate neither buyers nor suppliers to invest their time and resources to tackle the root causes of poor working conditions. Rather, the results here indicate the need to develop collaborative relationships marked by open dialogue, trust, and commitment, which in turn help to foster an environment supportive of continuous improvement in working conditions.

This study provides a comprehensive framework of adaptation in triadic business relationship settings in the service sector. The framework is based on the industrial network approach (see, e.g., Axelsson & Easton, 1992; Håkansson & Snehota, 1995a). The study describes how adaptations initiate, how they progress, and what the outcomes of these adaptations are. Furthermore, the framework takes into account how adaptations spread in triadic relationship settings. The empirical context is corporate travel management, which is a chain of activities where an industrial enterprise, and its preferred travel agency and service supplier partners combine their resources. The scientific philosophy, on which the knowledge creation is based, is realist ontology. Epistemologically, the study relies on constructionist processes and interpretation. Case studies with in-depth interviews are the main source of data.