An empirical model of salesperson competence, buyer-seller trust and collaboration: the moderating role of technological turbulence and product complexity

Based on the theoretical underpinnings of transaction cost economics, we examine the impact of salesperson competence – one of the important antecedents of trust in a buyer-seller relationship. Using responses from 218 purchasing professionals, we find that salesperson competence has a positive relationship with development of trust in the salesperson and that this relationship is strengthened in the presence of increasing technological turbulence. Further, a positive relationship between the buying firm’s trust in a supplier’s salesperson leads to the development of trust in that supplier organization which ultimately leads to collaboration within the buyer-supplier relationship.