The effects of mutuality in exporter-importer relationships
研究了出口商与进口商关系中关键关系变量的互惠性对关系绩效的影响，基于澳大利亚出口商与东南亚进口商的配对数据，首次应用感知双向性方法测量互惠性。
Purpose Relationship marketing has been playing an important role in the development of marketing theory and practice. Though the concept has been extensively applied in international marketing in understanding the dynamics of exporter-importer relationships, few studies have looked at dyadic data to investigate the impact of mutuality of relational variables on the exporter-importer relationships. The objective of this study is to understand the impact of mutuality of key relational variables on exporter-importer relationship performance. A dyadic model of mutuality is proposed. The model highlights the impact of balance, level and quality of perceptual bi-directionality of relational variables. Design/methodology/approach The model was tested using dyadic data collected from exporter-importer relationships involving Australian exporters and their Southeast Asian import partners through a cross-sectional, quantitative survey. Mutuality of relationship constructs was measured using the perceptual bi-directionality (PBD) method. Findings The results support the central hypothesis that mutuality of relational constructs has an impact on relationship performance. Originality/value The study is the first to apply the perceptual bi-directionality method to measure mutuality of relational constructs in an exporter-importer setting. The study contributes to the general understanding of international business and exporter-importer relationship performance in particular.