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The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedent factors that foster and sustain the development of relational norms from a social exchange process perspective and articulates the mediating effect of relational norms on the relationship between inter-partner learning (IL) and IT co-sourcing performance.

A total of 197 usable questionnaires were returned from 1,000 Taiwan enterprises. Results from a partial least squares method supported the hypothesis that relational norms serve as dependent variable (to IL) and independent (mediating) variable (to IT co-sourcing performance).

The empirical results show that IL positively effects partnership identity and collaboration, while both significantly mediate the effects of IL on IT co-sourcing performance.

The research implications confirm that the relational norms which IT co-sourcing parties must include both attitudes and behavior simultaneously, and that IT co-sourcing will not produce good performance without both parties developing shared attitudes and collaborative behavior.

Relational norms can play a critical mediation role to help ensure that both parties reach their common goals successfully and prevent the risk of their effort to cooperate together falling apart. Therefore, project managers have to take account of the importance of relational norms on inter-organizational cooperation or strategic alliances.

This study creates opportunities for further cross-disciplinary studies of inter-firm co-sourcing project especially with regard to relational norms and knowledge sharing.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of relational norms on project success in different project governance contexts.

A worldwide web-based questionnaire yielded 200 responses. Results from regression analyses supported the hypothesis that relational norms impact project success. Hierarchical regression analyses showed the moderating effect of governance and control on the relationship between relational norms and project success.

Relational norms in the buyer-supplier relationship are positively associated with project success. This relationship is moderated by the strictness of project governance, especially the level of flexibility left to the project manager. Lower levels of managerial flexibility are detrimental to project success in cases of weak relational norms and supportive of project success in cases of high relational norms.

Academic implications stem from the indication that control has a low influence on the relationship between relational norms and project success, but that the level of managerial flexibility ultimately influences the choice of relational norms needed for a project to be successful.

Clear organizational structures and methodologies are supportive of project success in cases of good relational norms. Therefore, project management training should focus on the relationship building capabilities of project managers, to leverage investments in existing methods and organizational structures.

The paper extends the insights of the importance of soft aspects in managing projects across organizational borders and different governance structures.

Bases the present study, on Macneil’s relational contract theory and illustrates the conceptual and managerial importance of relational norms in a business‐to‐business service context. Demonstrates a clear link between the client’s perception of the strength of the bank‐client relationship, as measured by relational norms, and the client’s intention to continue to purchase financial services and to purchase new financial services, willingness to recommend both the account manager and the bank to business colleagues and, assessment of satisfaction and judgement of service quality. Finds significant differences between the assessment of the strength of the relationship by account managers and client‐company representatives; these differences would have important managerial implications in the context of commercial banking.

The present research aims to revisit the relationships between buyer dependence on suppliers, relational norms between two parties in a buyer-supplier dyad, and a buyer's tendency to either engage in opportunistic behaviors or comply with a supplier's request as an exception condition. The authors adopt a supplier's perspective to examine the supplier's anticipation of the buyer's behaviors.

Based on the original studies conducted by Joshi and Arnold, the authors extend both works using a similar methodology but with a different data sample. The previously validated buyer-supplier relationship supply disruption scenario presented in the original studies is rewritten from a supplier's perspective to examine the supplier's anticipation of the buyer's behaviors. Subjects are asked to assume the role of an account manager within the key supplier firm for an electronic equipment manufacturer and to respond to how they deal with the supplier's expectation of how the buying firm may behave in terms of compliance and opportunism.

The results show that buyer dependence is positively related to buyer compliance behaviors and that this relationship holds irrespective of the buyer's or supplier's perspective on the supply disruption scenario and irrespective of professional or student subjects. Other findings include the contingency of the moderating effect of relational norms on the link between dependence and buyer compliance on various factors, and the existence of a boundary condition for the moderation effect of relational norms on the link between dependence and buyer opportunism.

The study should prove valuable to academics and professionals alike. It reinforces the notion that buyers that are more dependent and reliant on suppliers are more willing to comply with supplier's needs. Also, it considers the possibility that supply chain agents from both the buyer and supplier sides may value the effect of relational norms differently, with suppliers perceiving that relational norms have more of a direct influence on a buyer's behavior. Lastly, the replication study extends the understanding of the generalizability of the original studies.

There has been a steady increase in the amount of research and theorising in the area of interorganisational research, especially with regard to buyer‐seller arrangements in marketing channels (Andersen and Narus 1990, Bergen et.al., 1992, Boyle et.al., 1992). Alternative interorganisational governance models, such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, and sole‐sourcing are the reality of modern business management (Borys and Jemison 1989, Buckley and Casson 1988), and so interfirm governance has become a strategic management issue. The much‐cited work of Porter (1985, 1991) has focused on the optimal linkage of interfirm activities, and regards the planning and governance of interfirm relations as an important competitive strategic issue, a point reiterated by Heide (1994). The issue of channel relationships has been one of concern for both practitioners and academics, and theories such as those of transaction cost analysis (TCA), agency theory, and relational norms have on the one hand shed much light on the problems, and on the other provided a fruitful backdrop to much empirical research. Less attention has been given to the effects of time on these notions, both in the literature and in empirical research. In this article we provide an overview of the theories, and attempt an integration. The purpose of this article is to focus on transaction cost economics (TCE) and relational exchange theory to provide an overview of the areas of interorganisational research where relationships play a role. A number of areas where the theories diverge and converge are outlined. More importantly, we endeavour to bring the effects of time into consideration, and to develop propositions for further research.

During their process of going international, small and medium-sized manufacturing firms seek to establish long-term relationships with key importers in order to minimize the risks of doing business in a foreign market. In the process of establishing long-term relationships, exporters aim to create relational capital with key importers. Yet, the body of international marketing literature that addresses the importance of relational capital in exporter-importer (E-I) relationships is still underdeveloped. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of relational norms on relational capital in key E-I relationships under the moderating influence of formal and informal institutional distance. The study’s conceptual framework was developed by integrating relational exchange and institutional theories.

The study was carried out by using a survey methodology. Data were obtained by questionnaire from a sample of 122 small and medium-sized exporters from the manufacturing industry in Croatia. In order to test the hypotheses, the ordinary least squares technique was employed.

The findings support the hypotheses, implying that the development of relational capital requires relational efforts in terms of reliance and relational bonding norms. Additionally, the empirical data suggest that the dimensions of formal and informal institutional distance significantly moderate the relationships between relational norms and relational capital.

The value-added of this study is embedded within the theoretical framing and empirical testing of the antecedents of relational capital in key E-I relationships in the context of the institutional distance between partners, which has been neglected by previous studies in the field.

This paper aims to examine the multiplicity of norms in inter‐company cooperation in the context of an SME export group. It will show that the strategic interests of the parties call for more diversity in norms than that identified in existing studies on relational exchange.

This is a qualitative longitudinal case study of a group of five firms. The theory of relational exchange served as the basis for analysis, interpretation, and context of the research findings.

This study shows that both relational and discrete norms are necessary for cooperative groups. Furthermore, the paper argues that companies in cooperation have a shared need to retain a certain degree of independence and to develop normative expectations for autonomy while cooperating. Consequently, it suggests a new category of norms: “norms of moderated autonomy”.

The findings are based on limited case material. Thus, future study is required to examine the validity of the suggestions and their applicability in the context of larger companies.

The study suggests that the parties need to be explicit with their interests that form the basis for the emergence of cooperative norms, and to acknowledge the contingent and conflicting nature of these different normative expectations.

The research focuses on the overlooked topic of the independence and maintenance of autonomy in business cooperation. By proposing a new category of norms of moderated autonomy, the study expands the seminal theory of relational contract.

The purpose of this research is to understand factors related to increased customer purchases from suppliers during different stages of the customer‐supplier relationship.

A survey of 372 professionals in the paper industry was conducted to investigate how customer performance outcomes, supplier quality and delivery performance, the presence of relational norms and customer perspectives of environmental uncertainty vary in their influence on increasing customer purchases over time.

The results indicate the variables influencing increased customer purchases vary over the duration of the customer‐supplier relationship. It is also shown how the variables influencing increased customer purchases from suppliers are different from the variables leading to increased customer commitment to suppliers over time.

Data were collected from the customer perspective only and involved the exchange of one type of product. Similar studies need to be conducted in other industries involving other types of product exchanges that capture both customer and supplier perspectives to verify these findings.

Supplier sales and marketing managers need to understand the factors related to increased customer purchases and how they change over time to create appropriate sales and marketing strategies for different stages of their customer relationships.

One of the most important sales and marketing objectives is to increase customer purchases; however, it has received limited attention in prior research. This paper adds value by focusing on both the variables related to increased customer purchases and how these factors change in their influence over the duration of the customer‐supplier relationship.

Relational cohesion theory posits that relational cohesion helps build relationships among communication partners, implying that users would expect a growth in relations or making more friends in the future. However, little is known about expectancy of a better future state of relations, i.e. expectancy of relational growth, and its impact on users' continued engagement in online communication. Our study extends relational cohesion theory to explain how expectancy of relational growth impacts online gamer loyalty.

We test the framework using structural equation modeling to analyze a large sample of 1,429 responses from online gamers.

We find that expectancy of relational growth is positively related to norm compliance and relational cohesion, which are further related to network convergence and interdependence, fostering online gamer loyalty.

The findings contribute to relational cohesion theory by identifying novel sources of relational cohesion, i.e. expectancy of relational growth and norm compliance. Hence, game providers should create gamers' expectancy of growth in online relationships. Such expectancy could motivate continued gaming communication, even when gamers are not satisfied with the current state of online relationships. Moreover, we propose the new concept of expectancy of relational growth, which should have a strong impact on online communication in various areas.

This study aims to examine relational norms in cross-cultural business settings. Cross-cultural business partners may differ in their normative orientations toward relational exchange. Owing to the high extent of international trade, there is a need for developing a more nuanced understanding of cross-cultural relational exchange.

The repertory grid method was used to elicit the personal constructs characterizing the perceptions of business-to-business (B2B) relational exchange for 22 Russian and Finnish managers. These items were further categorized into categories of relational elements drawn from relational exchange literature using a content analysis. Then, the category means of scored importance and scored evaluations of domestic and foreign business partners were tested statistically.

Relational norms of flexibility, information exchange, long-term orientation, mutuality and solidarity were equally important to both Russian and Finnish managers. The importance of a business partner’s ability seems to be culturally dependent. Sharing the same cultural background might have an adverse effect when evaluating poorly functioning business relations.

The validity of these findings is limited to this context and material. Future research should repeat cross-cultural comparisons of the relational norms with more data and other nationalities.

Firms should focus on long-term orientation and mutual targets to form well-functioning cross-cultural business relationships.

This study provides new knowledge into B2B marketing literature by revealing the role of relational norms, business partner’s ability and shared cultural background on functionality of cross-cultural business relations. It also demonstrates the use of the repertory grid method in studying perceptions of relational norms.