Conceptualising the link between national cultural dimensions and B2B relationships

The main purpose of the paper is to examine the possible links between some selected dimensions of national culture and business‐to‐business (B2B) relationships.

Since this paper proposes a conceptual model, a qualitative approach is taken to gather required information mainly through a search of the literature.

It is argued that the effect of trust on B2B cooperation would be stronger in the collectivist culture than in the individualist culture. Furthermore, the negative consequence of power would be relatively insignificant in the collectivist culture because collectivist network tends to maintain harmony. It is possible to use power coercively in a high‐power distance culture because in such a culture, cooperation is assumed to be power induced. However, opportunism is likely to raise a barrier to reap the benefits that cooperation generates in such cultures.

First, only two of the six dimensions originally proposed by Hofstede in 1980 are adopted for this paper. So, the proposed conceptual model only represents a partial conceptualisation of the Hofstede's framework. Secondly, this paper included only the relationship among three constructs (trust, power, and cooperation) drawn from the relationship paradigm reported in the literature. Therefore, the paper conceptualises a partial view of possible exchanges.

This paper helps broaden an understanding of relationships involving power, trust, and cooperation and can be considered an advancement in research because of its approach to study relationships between the above variables in an international setting proposing culture as having moderating effects on those relationships.