The critical role of trust in obtaining retailer support for a supplier’s strategic organizational change

It is well established in the marketing literature that the bond of trust is a cornerstone of interorganizational relationships. However, trust is considered to be context-specific, as it is difficult to endow on new relationships. We argue that the existing trust between organizations not only surv...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of retailing 2003-01, Vol.79 (4), p.249-258
Main Authors: Lusch, Robert F., O’Brien, Matthew, Sindhav, Birud
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Commitment
Marketing channels
Organizational change
Relationship marketing
Retail cooperative
Trust
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It is well established in the marketing literature that the bond of trust is a cornerstone of interorganizational relationships. However, trust is considered to be context-specific, as it is difficult to endow on new relationships. We argue that the existing trust between organizations not only survives tough and shifting times, but also helps steer those organizations through such trying periods. We investigated a context where a major change was instituted in a cooperative marketing channel. Here, the supplier (the focal channel member) had to convince the other channel members (the retailers) about the impending merger, which may or may not bring benefits to all. We empirically show the existing trust in the supplier was a major determinant of the support for the merger and inducing the post-merger trust in and commitment to the changed supplier.
ISSN:0022-4359
1873-3271
DOI:10.1016/j.jretai.2003.09.003