Jukka, Minna and Andreeva, Tatiana and Blomqvist, Kirsimarja and Puumalainen, Kaisu (2017) A cross-cultural perspective on relational exchange. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 32 (7). pp. 937-950. ISSN 0885-8624

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Abstract

Purpose– This study aims to examine relational norms in cross-cultural business settings. Cross-cultural business partners may differ in theirnormative orientations toward relational exchange. Owing to the high extent of international trade, there is a need for developing a more nuancedunderstanding of cross-cultural relational exchange.Design/methodology/approach– The repertory grid method was used to elicit the personal constructs characterizing the perceptions ofbusiness-to-business (B2B) relational exchange for 22 Russian and Finnish managers. These items were further categorized into categories ofrelational elements drawn from relational exchange literature using a content analysis. Then, the category means of scored importance and scoredevaluations of domestic and foreign business partners were tested statistically.Findings– Relational norms of flexibility, information exchange, long-term orientation, mutuality and solidarity were equally important to bothRussian and Finnish managers. The importance of a business partner’s ability seems to be culturally dependent. Sharing the same culturalbackground might have an adverse effect when evaluating poorly functioning business relations.Research limitations/implications– The validity of these findings is limited to this context and material. Future research should repeatcross-cultural comparisons of the relational norms with more data and other nationalities.Practical implications– Firms should focus on long-term orientation and mutual targets to form well-functioning cross-cultural businessrelationships.Originality/value– This study provides new knowledge into B2B marketing literature by revealing the role of relational norms, business partner’sability and shared cultural background on functionality of cross-cultural business relations. It also demonstrates the use of the repertory grid methodin studying perceptions of relational norms.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Cross-cultural; Buyer-supplier relationships; Relational norms;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	11059
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-03-2016-0048
Depositing User:	Tatiana Andreeva
Date Deposited:	19 Sep 2019 09:38
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing
Publisher:	Emerald
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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