The Effect of Trust, Commitment, Knowledge Acquisition, and Dissemination on Relationship Satisfaction: Research into the Turkish Yacht Manufacturing Sector
Cenk Tufan, Özlem Yaşar UğurluIn this research, the authors have investigated the relationship between trust and commitment, two of the essential elements of relational capital, along with knowledge acquisition and dissemination, as the basis for the organizational learning process and relationship satisfaction. For this purpose, the authors sent a questionnaire by mail to the managers (Technical Manager, Project Manager, Production Manager, and Shipyard Manager) associated with the corporate activities of the 66 members of the “Turkish Shipbuilders’ Association.” A total of 262 responses were obtained from the questionnaires. To test the research hypotheses, the authors applied structural equation modeling to the variables. Ultimately, the analysis supported all of the research hypotheses. Consequently, the authors observed that mutual trust between corporate partners positively affects the commitment to cooperation. The study concluded that the trust between the partners and the commitment to cooperation positively affect the organizational learning process. Moreover, knowledge acquisition from partners positively impacts disseminating this knowledge within the organization. Furthermore, the dissemination of knowledge within the organization positively affects collaborative relationship satisfaction.
İş Birliklerinde Güven, Bağlılık, Bilgi Edinimi ve Yayılımının İş birliği Memnuniyetine Etkisi: Türkiye Yat İmalat Sektöründe Bir Araştırma
Cenk Tufan, Özlem Yaşar UğurluBu araştırmada iş birliği içinde bulunan işletmelerin geliştirdikleri ilişkisel sermayenin en önemli unsurlarından olan güven ve bağlılık değişkenleri, örgütsel öğrenme süreci boyutlarından bilgi edinimi ve yayılımı ile iş birliği memnuniyeti arasındaki ilişkiler araştırılmaktadır. Araştırmanın kapsamını Türkiye yat imalat sektöründe faaliyette bulunan, yerli ve yabancı ortakları ile iş birliği içinde olan işletmeler oluşturmaktadır. Bu amaçla Türkiye’ de Gemi İnşa Sanayicileri Birliği’ne (GİSBİR) üye 66 firmanın iş birliği faaliyetleri ile ilişkili yöneticilerine (teknik müdür, proje müdürü, üretim müdürü ve tersane müdürü) mail yolu ile anket gönderilmiştir. Gönderilen anketlerden 262 adet geri dönüş elde edilmiştir. Araştırma hipotezlerini test etmek amacıyla değişkenlere yapısal eşitlik modellemesi uygulanmış ve analiz sonucunda tüm araştırma hipotezleri desteklenmiştir. Sonuç olarak iş birliği tarafları arasında karşılıklı güvenin iş birliğine olan bağlılık üzerinde pozitif etkisi olduğu görülmüştür. İş birliği tarafları arasındaki güven ile iş birliğine olan bağlılığın örgütsel öğrenme süreci üzerinde pozitif yönde bir etkiye sahip olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. Ayrıca, örgütsel öğrenme süreci içerisinde ortaklardan bilgi ediniminin örgüt içerisindeki bu bilginin yayılımı üzerinde; bilginin örgüt içinde yayılımının da işbirlikçi ilişki memnuniyeti üzerine olumlu bir etki gösterdiği saptanmıştır.
Under the influence of globalization, the world has become a huge marketplace where fast and overwhelming competition constantly occurs. This situation has changed the mutual relations of business enterprises with one another. Accordingly, forming strategic alliances to minimize the threat of competition has become a commonly preferred growth strategy. Furthermore, strategic alliances have become a common tool for expanding the sphere of influence of businesses. Firms can use the resources and capabilities of each business in the alliance to improve their innovation skills and develop sustainable performance (Robertson and Gatignon, 1998, p. 515). For this reason, the strategic management and alliance literature generally argue that learning and creating knowledge are important factors in establishing international strategic alliances and contribute significantly to alliance outcomes (Nielsen, 2007; Liu et al., 2010; Liu and Zhang, 2014; Nippa and Reuer, 2019; Liu and Lui, 2020).
Strategic alliances also include developing and managing relational capital in an alliance. Relational capital consists of the positive and beneficial sociopsychological aspects of the alliance. Therefore, partners in both national and international strategic alliances should invest in relational capital in addition to any required financial capital investment (Cullen et al., 2000, p. 224). Relational capital also refers to the degree of trust, commitment, respect, and friendship that partners create toward each other due to close interaction (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998, p. 259). The trust exists at interpersonal, organizational, interorganizational, and even international levels. It plays a critical role in achieving the success of interorganizational trust and alliances, qualifying it as a vital contact point in cooperative relations.
Commitment is an important concept related to measuring loyalty and predicting the frequency of future business and is a future orientation reflecting the desire of the parties to maintain a relationship that they consider valuable (Zhang and Wang, 2018, p. 6). In this same context, commitment can be defined as the relationship-specific investment that each partner makes to make the alliance successful (Chaturvedi and Gaur, 2009, p. 179). The term commitment ultimately includes the partner’s intention, expectation, and willingness to invest resources in the continuity of the relationship (Bayat et al., 2014, p. 4105).
Alliances permit all partners to combine resources owned by the different businesses to take advantage of new business opportunities and their potential benefits. Knowledge is a keystone in the alliance and resource-based view literature and strategically is seen as the most important source of competitive advantage (Grant and Baden-Fuller, 2004, p. 64; Raguž et al., 2017, p. 540; Liao et al., 2017, p. 1436). In this context, organizational learning is the key to benefiting from collaborative activities for firms aiming to learn through alliances (Namada, 2018: 86). Organizational learning is generally defined as acquiring and disseminating knowledge that promotes behavioral change or sensitivity to learning that directly affects organizational outcomes (Evangelista et al., 2001, p. 734).
The literature defines relationship satisfaction as an overall positive assessment of a business’s working relationship with another firm (Frazier et al., 1989, p. 57). Relationship satisfaction is a positive emotional condition arising from how the expectations of a firm’s working relationship with another firm are met (Robson and Katsikeas, 2005, p. 405). Robson and Katsikeas (2005) stated that the strategy implemented by the top management will shape the satisfaction of relations if it is directed to the valuable resources of alliance and access to knowledge.
In this study, the authors investigated the relationships between trust and commitment variables, which are the most important elements of relational capital, as well as knowledge acquisition and dissemination as organizational learning process dimensions and relationship satisfaction as an aspect of collaboration outcome. For this purpose, the investigators sent a questionnaire by mail to various managers of 66 companies (Technical Manager, Project Manager, Production Manager, and Shipyard Manager) who are members of the “Turkish Shipbuilders’ Association” (GISBIR). The authors obtained 262 responses from the questionnaires.
According to the results of the path analysis, mutual trust between the alliance partners positively impacts the commitment to the alliance. The study also concluded that the trust between the partners and the commitment to the alliance have a positive effect on the organizational learning process. Besides, the acquisition of knowledge from the partners within the organizational learning process positively affects the dissemination of this same knowledge within the organization. Finally, the knowledge acquired from the partners and the dissemination of this knowledge within the organization also creates a positive effect on relationship satisfaction.
This study contributes to the strategic alliance literature by expanding the framework for organizational learning and relationship satisfaction in alliances. This work is also important as it explores and explains new aspects of relationship satisfaction. Thus, the paper provides an innovative analysis mainly through the use of subjective indicators in evaluating alliance outcomes, which provides new insights for developing an operationally successful alliance performance.