The Value of Relationships in a Chinese-Western Business-to-Business Context: An Investigation on Relationship Bonds, Adaptation, Trust and Commitment

The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the dynamics behind Chinese-Western buyer-supplier relationships. The study takes on a partially inductive approach by commencing with exploratory in-depth interviews. The main body of the study consists of a cross-sectional survey. Data has been collected through an on-line questionnaire. The theoretical review consists of industrial relationships with specific accounts on the role of adaptation, trust and commitment; a stream of literature in cross-cultural relationships deriving from Hofstede’s culturalist legacy with specific reference to Chinese-Western relationships, including studies on relationship bonding, and the role of guanxi. Three in-depth interviews have been conducted with two international consultants and a senior purchasing executive. 37 on-line questionnaires from Chinese supplier firms based in China have been collected. The findings conclude that a Chinese firm’s exposure to Western customers leads the former to partially adapt to a Western approach to inter-firm relationships. The strength of inter-firm bonds is found to link to trust. The level of adaptation undertaken by the exchange parties appears to directly affect the intensity of social bonds, to be the most appropriate predictor of commitment and to explain the association observed between trust and commitment