Lövblad, Mikael
- Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Commitment is widely recognized as a crucial component for reaching long term, profitable relationships between firms. This study focuses on one specific dimension of the commitment construct, that of affective relationship commitment, since previous literature has indicated its centrality in achieving positive relationship outcomes. The thesis also explores the psychological contract, a construct derived from the field of organizational psychology, and investigate the content and consequences of the construct in relationships between customers and suppliers on the market for industrial supplies. In this thesis, the conceptual scope of the affective commitment construct is further developed, and it is argued that affective relationship commitment can only occur at the individual level. In order to understand its formation there is a need to incorporate relevant psychological aspects into the theory. By the use of qualitative and quantitative methods, the psychological contracts of individuals involved in customer-supplier relationships on the market for industrial supplies are investigated. Case studies were performed in Sweden and the USA, and a quantitative survey was conducted in Sweden, the United Kingdom and Spain. Findings show that the psychological contract does have value in describing and understanding perceived promises and obligations in the context of customer-supplier relationships, thus complementing established constructs such as relationship norms in the analysis of this type of relationships. It is indicated in the empirical findings that the relational orientation of the psychological contract, as well as the evaluation of it, has influence on the building of affective commitment. The study confirms the central role of trust in predicting the occurrence of affective commitment. It is also indicated that affective commitment, as an individual level construct, does have influence on the organizational level construct of behavioral commitment.
Keywords
contracts; psychological factors; enterprises; questionnaires; interorganizational relationships; behaviour
Published in
Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae
2011, number: 2011:12
Publisher: Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Economics and Business
Sociology (excluding Social work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Publication identifier
- ISBN: 9789157675477
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/33327