The Effects of Cultural Familiarity and Value Similarity on Benevolence in the Export-import Relationship

Abstract

This study examines the effects of importer’s cultural familiarity and value similarity on the importer’s benevolence towards its foreign exporter in an export-import relationship. The results indicate that both the importer’s cultural familiarity and value similarity significantly affect the importer’s commitment to the relationship with the exporter partner. The results also indicate that affective commitment has a positive effect on altruistic benevolence and calculative commitment has a positive influence on mutualistic benevolence. In turn, the importer’s mutualistic benevolence is shown to have a positive impact on relationship performance. Managerial implications for international marketers are discussed. Seoul Journal of Business Volume 13, Number 1 (June 2007) * Main author, Professor of Marketing, School of Business, Yonsei University (jleedjlee@base.yonsei.ac.kr). ** Coauthor, Professor of Marketing, School of Business, Yonsei University (mlee@younsei.ac.kr). *** Coauthor, Associate Professor of Marketing, College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology (francis.ulgado@mgt.gatech.edu).