Drivers and performance outcomes of relationship learning for suppliers in cross-border customer-supplier relationships: The role of communication culture

Recently, relationship learning between supply chain members has drawn a great deal of attention in the literature. In the context of the international electronics supply chain, which is characterized by cultural differences and complexity of products, relationship learning is difficult to achieve and relies largely on close collaboration between partners. The authors build on the resource-based view of the firm and adopt a communication culture theory to examine drivers and performance outcomes of relationship learning in cross-border relationships in the electronics industry. They propose a research framework in which a firm's innovativeness orientation, trust, information technology advancement, and technological uncertainty are determinants of relationship learning. In the framework, they introduce the communication cultures of the supplier and buyer as a moderator. Using 246 electronics suppliers in relationships with international original equipment manufacturer customers, the authors empirically show that innovativeness orientation, trust, and technological uncertainty affect relationship learning positively. Furthermore, the communication cultures of the supplier and buyer moderate the effects of innovativeness orientation and technological uncertainty. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications. ©2010, American Marketing Association.