The impact of relative governance on B2B firms' value appropriation from industrial buyer-seller relationships: empirical evidence from China

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how relative contractual and relational governances impact seller's value appropriation via buyer's trust, perceived justice and opportunism in the context of industrial buyer-seller relationships. Design/methodology/approach Survey data from 232 matched buyer-seller dyads of Chinese business-to-business (B2B) firms was used to test the conceptual model and research hypotheses. The confirmatory factor model and structural equation model were tested by using Lisrel 8.80. Findings The findings show that relative contractual governance and relative relational governance have opposite consequences on B2B relationship and value outcomes. Relative contractual governance generates higher level of buyer's opportunist behavior because it reduces buyer's trust and perceived justice, therefore harms seller's value appropriation. By contrast, relative relational governance enhances buyer's trust and perceived justice, therefore curbs buyer's opportunism and improves seller's value appropriation. Originality/value This study makes significant contributions to theory development of value appropriation and inter-firm governance mechanism by extending dyadic view to network view. It proposes the concept of relative governance and explores its role in shaping a business partner's perception and behavior. It also provides insightful implications for B2B companies on capturing more benefits from the relationship with buyers by leveraging relative governance strategies.

Automated summary

This study contributes to the theory of value appropriation and inter-firm governance by extending the dyadic view to a network view. It introduces the concept of relative governance and explores its role in shaping a business partner's perception and behavior. The study also provides insightful implications for B2B companies on capturing more benefits from the relationship with buyers through leveraging relative governance strategies.