Creativity in buyer-seller relationships: The role of governance

This research proposes a framework for relating governance mechanisms (power, contracts, and trust) to the generation of creative approaches to business activities in buyer-seller relationships. The framework is tested with a survey of 262 purchasing agents. The results indicate that trust and contract affect the three facilitators of inter-organizational creativity: (1) knowledge-sharing routines (resources), (2) learning orientation (motivation), and (3) managerial support and open-mindedness (managerial practices). Also, the effects of trust and contract on the creativity in buyer-seller relationships are fully mediated by the above three facilitators. In particular, trust plays a more influential role in stimulating creativity. While power is not significantly associated with any of the facilitators, its overall effect on creativity is negative. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.