Investigation the Effect of Relationship Quality, Performance and Exporter Satisfaction on Continuing Export- Import Relationship

Abstract

The purpose of this study is at reexamining the initiative conceptual models to investigate how relationship quality affects export performance, to what extent export performance affects exporter satisfaction, and to determine whether exporter satisfaction ultimately affects the expectation of continuing the export-import relationship in an emerging market like Iran’s industrial markets. The paper reports the findings of a survey of 389 respondents from the industrial markets in Iran, chosen from a selected sample. The responding exporters and importers were located in Tehran. The data were analyzed using the Lisrel software. The results support all the hypotheses, indicating that there is a significant relationship between exporter, importer relationship quality and financial and strategic export performance. Additionally, positive relationships between financial export performance and exporter satisfaction and between exporter satisfaction and the expectation of continuing the relationship are shown. The findings have practical implications for managers and policy-makers interested in developing effective strategies for building and maintaining high quality export-import relationships, especially in the context of an emerging market in developing countries. In order to accomplish the research goal, the main constructs from two influential streams of literature – social exchange theory and the disconfirmation of expectation theory are utilized.