Beyond Exchange: The Commitment-Trust Theory Revisited

An adapted model of the Morgan and Hunt (1994) model is developed using theoretical and empirical insights from a range of studies. This model is then tested utilising the Morgan and Hunt (1994) data (i.e., covariance matrix), the 1RRPdata (Young and Wilkinson 1989; Young and Wilkinson 1997)-a more comprehensive and diverse set of responses, and finally, employing alternative estimation procedures: AMOS as an application of the covariance-based method of structural equation estimation and PLS-Graph as an application of the variance-based approach. Results show that the proposed model is statistically superior to the original model proposed by Morgan and Hunt (1994) in terms of explanatory power and parsimony. Moreover comparing the adapted model to a direct effects model suggests that commitment and trust are crucial mediating variables in interfirm relationships