Authors: Bjorn S. Ivens; Catherine Pardo
Despite increasing interest in the effective combination of alternative governance mechanisms for themanagement of inter-organizational exchange, there is relatively little empirical research that examinesthe impact of different governance mechanisms on relationship quality. Moreover, few authors linkgovernance mechanisms to situational factors. This paper, based on a written survey among purchasingmanagers (n = 297), explores the relative importance of three governance mechanisms (formalcontracts, relational norms, and specific investments) for relationship quality (satisfaction, commitment,and trust) across business contexts (key account dyads vs. non key account dyads). Results indicatethat while value creating norms have a highly significant impact on all three outcomes in all contexts,the importance of contracts and value claiming norms depends upon the specific context. Relationship-specific investments have no significant impact on the outcome variables.Keywords: Key Account Management, governance mechanisms, commitment, trust, satisfaction
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Publish Year: 2005
Conference: Rotterdam, Netherlands (2005)