Buyer-supplier exchange relationship: How do exchange partners behave across the relationship life-cycle?

Abstract

This study examines the behavioral differences between farmers and farm produce buyers on seven relationship-shaping constructs – use of contracts, transaction-specific investments, trust, cooperative norms, social bonds, long-term orientation, and information quality – at the exploration, expansion, and maturity phases of their relationship life-cycle. Findings from two independent surveys conducted in Vietnam’s agricultural heartlands show farmers and buyers holding comparable collaborative stance during the exploration and maturity phases, but behaving differently at the expansion stage. Triangulating these behavioral traits, we conclude that asymmetric trust in a dyadic relationship can converge to mutual trust through a process of reciprocal trust building.