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This research aims to analyse the potential role of perceived fairness as a complete governance mechanism in distribution channels. In doing so, this study examines the direct impact of perceived fairness on governance costs and its interactive effect on the driver (i.e. relationship-specific investments (RSIs) and deterrent (i.e. communication) of suppliers’ governance costs.

This research used a structural modelling approach to analyse the matched data collected from 241 pharmaceutical suppliers and distributors and test the proposed model.

The findings reveal that perceived fairness directly reduces governance costs in distribution channels. Further, they suggest that perceived fairness weakens the positive impact of suppliers’ RSIs and strengthens the negative effects of communication on suppliers’ governance costs.

This study suggests that perceived fairness is a novel and effective way to govern distribution channels. These findings provide a holistic understanding of how perceived fairness reduces governance costs, directly and indirectly.

The findings suggest managers should design fair channel policies and train sales personnel to emphasise fairness during channel interactions. This would foster an equitable channel climate that safeguards investments and reduces governance efforts.

Prior literature has mostly overlooked the potential role of perceived fairness in distribution channels; however, this study addresses this gap and highlights the dual role of perceived fairness in channel governance.

Despite the growing interest in the role of relation-specific investments (RSIs) in superior firm performance, their impact on sustainability performance remains unexplored, as do the underlying mechanisms of such effects. Drawing on the relational view and resource orchestration theory (ROT), the authors propose that supply chain learning (SCL) mediates the link between RSIs and sustainability performance.

A multi-method approach was adopted, combining a case study and survey. An exploratory case study of four Chinese manufacturing firms was first conducted to develop research hypotheses. A quantitative survey of data collected from 269 firms was then undertaken to test hypotheses.

Property-based, knowledge-based and personal-based RSIs positively impact firm sustainability performance and SCL. SCL fully mediates the relationship between knowledge-as well as personal-based RSIs and sustainability performance, and partially mediates the relationship between property-based RSIs and sustainability performance.

The study unveils important practical insights and approaches for firms endeavouring to achieve sustainability performance through RSIs and SCL.

The study extends the RSIs literature by linking RSIs and sustainability performance and differentiating the effects of different types of RSIs on sustainability performance. The theorized underlying mechanism advances the understanding of SCL in the link between RSIs and sustainability performance.

Rather than focussing on dyadic distributor–supplier relationships, this study aims to examine whether the difference in transaction-specific investments (TSIs) between rival suppliers in a supplier–distributor–supplier triad influences whether distributors expropriate or maintain their supplier’s TSIs.

Drawing on triadic data from 276 questionnaires that address both the supplier–distributor relationship and the rival supplier–distributor relationship, a moderated regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.

Five out of six hypotheses are supported by the empirical test. The results show that the supplier’s TSIs increase the distributor’s opportunistic behaviour and reduce cooperation when the distributor perceives that the supplier’s TSIs are lower than those of a rival supplier. In contrast, when the distributor perceives that the supplier’s TSIs are higher than those of a competitor, the supplier’s TSIs do not improve cooperation and can shift the link between the supplier’s TSIs and the distributor’s opportunism from being positive to negative.

The findings have implications for the top managers of supplier firms embedded in distribution networks. This study suggests that the competitor’s TSIs can be regarded as an indicator of the supplier’s relationship with the distributor. By keeping an eye on their competitors’ TSIs, the top managers of suppliers can predict the likelihood of distributors’ opportunistic and cooperative behaviour and make efforts to improve their position by adjusting their own firm’s TSIs. Furthermore, this information can help suppliers decide on their investment strategies and maintain stable and healthy relationships.

This study 1) examines the effect of TSIs using a triadic framework and triadic data and demonstrates that how a distributor responds to a supplier’s TSIs, with either opportunism or cooperation, depends on the relative level of those TSIs in focal and competitive relationships; and 2) reveals the expropriation effects and restraint effects of TSIs by drawing on prospect theory. This finding indicates the dynamics of TSIs in a triadic relationship.

This paper aims to investigate the importance and prevalence of Guanxi in business interactions in network-based societies such as China, few studies have the phenomenon from a dyadic view. In a business dyad, one partner may not value Guanxi and take it as a template for actions as the other does.

The authors propose that such collective and asymmetric Guanxi orientation influence both the creation and distribution of relational rent in a Guanxi dyad. Furthermore, relationship-specific investments (RSIs) moderate the relationship between dyadic Guanxi orientation and relational rent creation and distribution.

Based on a matched sample of supplier-buyer dyads in China, the authors find that joint Guanxi orientation is positively related to joint pie creation, whereas Guanxi orientation imbalance has a positive effect on the pie distribution imbalance.

These results contribute to the literature by revealing how dyadic Guanxi dynamics and practices affect dyadic performance and providing managers with meaningful implications for dyadic Guanxi management.

B2B marketing scholarship has acknowledged that relational capital and relationship-specific investments (RSIs) are critical relational drivers for explaining the success of business relationships, especially those in an export-import (E-I) context. However, the literature is still inconclusive on whether E-I partners should accentuate relational drivers to the fullest in order to increase relationship value. By drawing on relational view of competitive advantage and literature that explored the dark side of business relationships, the author builds a conceptual model exploring the boundary conditions (historical ties and relational capabilities) upon which relational drivers enhance or diminish relationship value in key E-I relationships.

To test the proposed model, a survey was conducted among 114 industrial exporters from Croatia. The data was analyzed with the use of confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression.

This study contributes to the international B2B literature in two ways. First, the findings show that in the case of strong historical ties between E-I partners, relational capital has an inverted U-shape association with the relationship value, whereas in the case of weak historical ties this relationship becomes linear. Second, the findings show that an importer’s RSI will lead to the highest relationship value when an exporter reciprocates through employing relational capabilities through which the exporter adapts his business model to the needs of the importer. In case of an exporter’s weak relational capabilities, the relationship between an importer’s RSIs and the relationship value flips into an inverted U-shape.

This study extends the literature on dark side of business relationships by offering insights into the boundary conditions that are essential for sustaining the relationship value in key E-I relationships. The study reveals that historical ties and relational capabilities represent boundary conditions that offer a more detailed explanation what is the optimal configuration of relational drives that would increase the relationship value between key E-I partners.

Considering strategic information sharing (SIS), this paper aims to develop a better understanding of how relation-specific investments (RSIs) influence cooperative innovation performance (CIP) in downstream channel relationships. Also examined was the moderating effect of relational trust in that the indigenous practice of guanxi is especially critical in China.

Data were collected through a questionnaire in Chinese high-tech industries, with a valid response from 310 companies. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the conceptual model and hypotheses, combining mediation and moderation analysis.

Results show that the influences of specific investments vary according to the specificity dimensions examined. Specifically, human RSI influences CIP and SIS most significantly, and the impact of procedural RSI is, relatively, the weakest. Relational trust’s moderating role is confirmed, and SIS plays a partially mediating role in enhancing vertical cooperative innovation.

Managers should know clearly different roles of RSIs in inter-firm cooperative innovation and prioritize human RSI and brand RSI when investing into channels. More importantly, the findings reveal that strategy-level information sharing should be valued more. It is also recommended that relational ties are vital, especially in Chinese business context.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first few to investigate how the effects of disaggregated RSIs in inter-firm cooperative innovation vary and the importance of SIS in vertical relationships. The results provide insightful guidance for researchers and managers in how to better manage RSIs to improve CIP.

This paper attempts to investigate the simultaneous effects of dedication and constraint factors on business-to-business (B2B) customer loyalty in the context of transforming the mobile telecommunication industry. Maintaining a successful inter-organizational relationship with the key players becomes increasingly critical to the performance and competitiveness of the mobile network operator (MNO) in the mobile telecommunication industry.

A dual customer loyalty model which reflected both dedication-based and constraint-based mechanisms is developed and empirically tested against data collected from 129 content providers (CPs) which currently have business relationships with China Mobile.

The structural equation modeling partial least squares analysis indicates that dedication-based (e.g. customer satisfaction, trust in MNO and MNO’s relationship-specific investments) and constraint-based (e.g. switching costs, dependence on MNO and CP’s asset specificity) mechanisms simultaneously, yet differentially, influence CP’s loyalty toward the MNO.

To obtain CP’s loyalty, MNOs should consider both the dedication and constraint factors. In particular, they need to focus more on the constraint-based mechanism, as it exerts stronger influences on CP’s loyalty than the dedication-based mechanism.

This research advances our theoretical understanding of the dual nature of customer loyalty behavior in the B2B context and offers practical implications for MNOs to leverage these two contrasting causal drivers.

The paper offers a viewpoint on the relevance of the underpinnings of the social exchange theory (SET) in understanding inter‐firm relationships, specifically with respect to outsourcing relationships in a Southeast Asian context.

The viewpoint is based on literature review on outsourcing trends, characteristics and underlying theories including the underpinnings of SET in combination with anecdotal accounts from practitioners in the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector as well as personal emic observations of management styles embedded within the socio‐cultural context of a developing country.

Management and outsourcing of contracts in a Southeast Asian context are usually done on a personal level with some leeway provided by top management. The reverse is true for developed countries where all processes and contracts need to be seen as just and transparent to stakeholders. Dominant theories identified with outsourcing generations seem to be embedded in management culture of developed countries which are largely influenced by the transaction cost economics theory and its extensions, the resource‐based view and the resource‐dependence view. By placing a caveat on generalizability, the paper opines that SET is still relevant in the Southeast Asian context.

As outsourcing characteristics have changed and evolved over the years, relationship models need to be reviewed and redefined to be in congruence with the changes that are occurring. The Southeast Asian socio‐cultural context can be a reference point for conceptualization of relationship models to understand E&E outsourcing relationships along global supply chains.

Coordinating interdependencies between concurrent activities is a special challenge in managing increasingly complex building services projects. Effective coordination at the pre‐installation stage is key to minimising field conflicts between building services systems. This study aims to investigate the significant causes of production shortcomings traceable to the pre‐installation stage, and to what extent these in turn probably contribute to higher volumes of construction debris.

Following relevant previous research and preliminary studies of production shortcomings in the building services subsector in Hong Kong, a series of structured interviews with practitioners were formulated and analysed. The findings lead to deductive reasoning in developing suitable approaches for this subsector.

The study reveals that “poor coordination among different trades and processes”, and “frequent design changes and/or errors” are seen as two of the major causes of production shortcomings in the pre‐installation stage. This paper proposes and discusses improvement strategies based on conceptual models of an “intra‐inter dependent teamwork concept”, a “dynamic coordination buffer” and a “BS coordination facilitator” in order to reduce the identified critical causes.

Although further research is needed, the findings in this paper can be a useful reference for other regions as the study methodology may be replicated.

In the search for solutions and improvements, a number of proven industrial management principles are incorporated in new conceptual models. These are expected to help alleviate the identified causes as critical design or related uncertainties are resolved through earlier coordination. This should in turn also reduce the volume of construction debris that can arise from current shortcomings in the pre‐installation stage of building services.

The purpose of this research is to increase understanding of post-project business relationships in service-intensive projects, a topic unexplored to date. This research contributes to the project marketing research focusing on post-project interaction, by building a conceptual research framework capable of illustrating the path from the initiation of a relationship through the project’s afterlife.

A comparative case study is used across four different service-intensive project contexts to highlight the conceptual research framework, derived from the IMP-related interaction research, in practice.

According to the research findings, there are at least four potential post-project business relationships associated with service-intensive projects. Furthermore, the findings indicate that these relationships embody certain antecedent and process characteristics, enabling us to compile four distinct development paths.

The four cases of the empirical research were chosen on theoretical grounds to highlight the conceptual research framework in practice, and thus the purpose was mainly descriptive. The findings should be generalized only with caution, as more empirical research is needed in this emerging project context.

For managers, the findings provide practical guidance to deal with different post-project relationships. They will help managers to initiate, maintain and develop post-project relationships and to avoid a mismatch between relationship antecedent, processes and outcomes.

Post-project buyer – seller interaction has been studied by the project marketing research stream, but mainly from the perspective of social exchange and sleeping relationships. With the advent of service-intensive projects, however, a whole new breed of post-project business relationships is unfolding and demanding research attention. This research is a step toward understanding the different post-project business relationships associated with service-intensive projects.