اهمیت اعتماد و رنکینگ در جهت گیری بلند مدت روابط تجاری بنگاه به بنگاه ذر چین

While business relationships with China are receiving increased attention in both practitioner and academic discourse, very little empirical work however, has been undertaken to isolate and examine measures that focus on business-to-business relationships, and as such, research in this area is somewhat scant. In an attempt to bridge this gap, and add to the knowledge in this emerging discipline, the research aims to develop a conceptual framework to explore the relationship between trust and the long-term orientation in Chinese business-to-business market relationships. Based on a survey with Hong Kong companies that have a buyer-seller relationship with Chinese companies, the empirical findings indicate the mediating role and significance of ‘renqing’ for enhancing trust and contributing towards the long-term stability in relational exchange. The results highlight several implications for practicing managers to consider when aiming to establish and develop relationships in a Chinese business-to-business context.

Chinese business relations are frequently developed and nurtured via personal connections, relationships, obligations, and influence that parties can use to obtain resources through continual cooperation and the exchange of favors (Davies, 1995, Davies et al., 1995, Pye, 1992 and Wang et al., 2001). Developing networks of mutual dependence, and creating a sense of obligation and indebtedness is a key to building successful relationships with Chinese communities, and often serves as a lubricant for exchange (Standifird and Marshall, 2000 and Yang, 1994). While a long-term orientation exists in both Chinese and Western relational practice, the underlying mechanism is somewhat different (Wang, 2007). Compared with Western concepts of marketing relationships, which are often impersonal (Morgan and Hunt, 1994 and Wang, 2007), the social capital owned by an individual at the personal level is more apparent in Chinese relations (Fan, 2002). Whilst in a Western context, the long-term orientation is contingent on trust and commitment (Morgan & Hunt, 1994), the underlying mechanism that explains the impact of trust on long-term orientation in Chinese relationships is ‘renqing’, which refers to one's obligation of repaying favors and showing empathy to partners involved in their business network (Hwang, 1987, Wang, 2007 and Yang, 1994). Over the last two decades an emerging stream of research has emerged that has provided somewhat qualitative overviews of China (Garten, 1998, May–June, Kao, 1993, March–April, Lieberthal and Lieberthal, 2003, October and Vanhonacker, 1997, March–April), Chinese buying behavior (Ackerman and Tellis, 2001, Graham and Lam, 2003, October, Klein et al., 1998, Jan, Sun et al., 2000, Tavassoli and Lee, 2003, Nov and Zhou and Nakamoto, 2001), and the fundamentals of business and marketing compared with Western practices (Atuahene-Gima and Li, 2002, July, Fang et al., 2004, Song et al., 2000, Jan, Yan, 1998, September–October and Zeng and Williamson, 2003, October). Despite this, very little empirical work has been undertaken to isolate and examine measures that are associated and apparent within Chinese buyer–seller relationships. Based on data collected from a sample of both Hong Kong buyers and sellers, the study is focused on particular business relationships with their Mainland Chinese partners. The research contributes to the understanding of buyer–seller relations through building a conceptual framework and testing the hypothesized mediation role of renqing between trust and the longv-term orientation of relational exchange in a Chinese context. Specifically the linkage between these three constructs is examined to discover the extent to which renqing is able to facilitate the relationship between trust and the long-term prospects of buyer–seller relationships, and the general nurturing of exchange. As a result, the findings will make an incremental contribution within the discipline, based on developing a scale to measure renqing and reporting new empirical findings relating to trust and the long-term orientation in a Chinese business-to-business context. Through understanding further about the unique underlying mechanisms of how Chinese business relationships operate, Western managers and academicians can potentially avoid applying Western based concepts directly in a Chinese context and thus minimize the potential risk of business failure. The paper is divided into three main sections. It begins by reviewing the relationship between trust and long-term orientation, then discusses the mediating role of renqing in such a relationship. The pertinent literature is used to develop a conceptual model that is subsequently tested on a sample of business executives in Hong Kong. The results of the primary research based on 206 usable responses are then reported, and finally some conclusions and managerial recommendations are provided.

The major contribution of the study is that the construct of renqing has been explored empirically and its mediating role in the relationship between trust and long-term orientation is confirmed. However, the study was conducted with some limitations. In the present study, a Hong Kong Chinese sample was employed. Although Hong Kong business people blend Western elements with Chinese tradition and can exhibit cultural sensitivity in buyer–seller relationships involving China, the field of investigation was set in a pure oriental context. A cross-cultural investigation is warranted by applying the model in a dyadic sense to investigate the relationship between Western suppliers and Chinese buyers, or vice versa. Analyzing renqing through multiple respondents both within and between organizations may prove interesting for future research. By targeting a single respondent who is knowledgeable about a particular buyer–seller relationship, as evident in this investigation, the findings are somewhat limited in terms of a single level focus within the organization. Multiple respondents can therefore provide further insights into business relationships and should be encouraged in future research. Furthermore, the present study focused purely on the manufacturing sector, and forthcoming activity could be channeled towards including service firms — where trust and renqing may be more apparent due to the inseparability, intangibility and interpersonal nature that is associated with services ( Bendapudi and Berry, 1997 and Parasuraman et al., 1985, Fall). In the present study no antecedents of trust were investigated, and as a result, the notion of trust could be examined and operationalized further in a Chinese cultural context to develop a more holistic structural model for testing. The operationalization of trust has been well documented in the Western literature — however to what extent such items will influence and have an impact on Chinese business relationships will contribute further to our understanding in this arena. Although Xu (1999) commented that the Chinese tend to do business with those where a strong degree of personal trust (xinyong) is apparent, and this serves to enhance relational exchange ( Leung et al., 2005), further investigations relating to the development of scales to measure xinyong are needed. Future research should therefore look to identify the potential, and degree of association between xinyong, renqing, and the long-term performance in business relationships. Such findings are likely to make a valid contribution that will be valued by both academicians and practitioners alike.