National Culture and Industrial Buyer-Seller Relationships in the United States and Latin America

Abstract

This study examined whether national culture directly moderates the link between buyer-seller relationship strength and repurchase intentions in industrial markets, as well as indirectly moderates the same link through its influence on corporate culture. Hypotheses were tested using a mail survey among industrial buyers in the United States and Latin America. Results based on 126 responses from Latin American firms and 81 responses from U.S. firms showed that national culture and corporate culture moderate the relationship-repurchase link and that national culture is associated with corporate culture. Using national culture index scores computed from administering Hofstede’s Value Survey Module 94, the authors further show that uncertainty avoidance is the primary driver of national culture’s influence on this link and that power distance is most directly associated with corporate culture.