Effects of supplier trust on performance of cooperative supplier relationships

Abstract This study tests a path analytic model of buyer–supplier relationships, linking the supplier’s level of trust to three categories of inter‐firm cooperative behaviors and these behaviors to the buyer’s perception of the relationship’s performance. Data was used from a survey of 164 dyads composed of a purchasing manager and a counterpart in a firm that they identified as their most cooperative suppliers. Higher levels of inter‐organizational cooperative behaviors such as shared planning and flexibility in coordinating activities were found to be strongly linked to the supplier’s trust in the buyer firm. However, not all of the types of cooperative behaviors, particularly joint responsibility for problem solving, had significant impacts on the buyer’s perceptions of the relationship’s performance.