Chinese retail buyer-seller initiation and maintenance of relationships

Three deficiencies in distribution channel research have been identified: (1) research on the process of relationship evolution; (2) research on the long-term orientation in foreign marketing channels (e.g. China); and (3) research from a distributor's perspective.; The aim of this study was to evaluate two theoretical models in the context of the Chinese market. The more specific goal of this study was to investigate how buyer-seller long-term relationships are initiated and maintained in the Chinese food retailer and supplier distribution channel, all from a buyer's perspective. The research question, therefore, is twofold: (1) What are the relationships among these variables at the retailer-supplier initiation stage; and (2) do these relationships change as the buyer and seller move into the maintenance stage? Because large-sample, firm-level data are very difficult to collect in China, a convenience sample was collected. Path analysis (LISREL 8.20) was used for model and hypothesis testing.; We discovered that only eight of the twenty-one relationships among the constructs remain the same at the two stages of the relationship, initiation and maintenance: (1) Role performance remained positively related to economic satisfaction and social satisfaction. (2) Role performance remained positively related to credibility trust. (3) Benevolence trust and credibility trust were found to be positively correlated. (4) Credibility trust was found to be positively related to long-term orientation. (5) Benevolence trust was not related to long-term orientation. (6) Opportunism was negatively related to social satisfaction. (7) Social satisfaction was not related to long-term orientation.; Differences between the two stages were: (1) Role performance was found to be positively related to benevolence trust at the relationship initiation stage, but not at the maintenance stage. (2) Economic satisfaction was not related to benevolence trust at the relationship initiation stage, but was at the maintenance stage. (3) Social satisfaction was positively related to credibility trust at the relationship initiation stage, but not at the maintenance stage. (4) Economic satisfaction and social satisfaction were positively correlated at the initiation stage, but not at the maintenance stage. (5) Opportunism was found to be negatively related both to benevolence trust and credibility trust at the relationship initiation stage, but not at the maintenance stage. (6) Economic satisfaction was positively related to long-term orientation at the relationship initiation stage, but not at the maintenance stage. (7) Guanxi behaved differently at the two stages; not only did it appear to associate with different variables, but also its effects had opposite signs at the two stages; at the long-term relationship initiation stage, guanxi was noted to be negatively related to social satisfaction and long-term orientation but, at the maintenance stage, positively related to economic satisfaction. (8) Dependence asymmetry was discovered to have a moderator effect on the relationship between a seller's role performance and social satisfaction at the long-term relationship initiation stage, but not at the maintenance stage. (9) Dependence was positively related to long-term orientation at the long-term relationship initiation stage, but not at the maintenance stage.