To read this content please select one of the options below:

Joint venture survival in China: the importance of tangible and intangible trust

Bradley James Koch (Department of Management, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA)
Pamela L.T. Koch (Department of Management, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, USA)

Journal of Asia Business Studies

ISSN: 1558-7894

Article publication date: 8 May 2018

484

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among joint venture survival in Sichuan and two types of trust: intangible trust and tangible trust. Intangible trust encapsulates the internal affective aspects of trust, whereas tangible trust captures the external and more easily visible willingness to commit resources to the partnership.

Design/methodology/approach

The primary data used in this research are based on surveys conducted in 2002-2003 of 274 foreign invested firms in Sichuan province and are from a follow-up investigation of firm survival in 2009.

Findings

The results show that both intangible trust and tangible trust are significant in predicting survival in joint ventures seven years into the future. In addition, the authors explore determinates of intangible and tangible trust. Management control had no impact on intangible trust, but it had a significant positive impact on tangible trust via the presence of a foreign general manager. Cultural distance had the expected negative effect on intangible trust, but an unanticipated positive influence on tangible trust.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this research is establishing a link between measures of trust taken in 2002 with a performance measure from 2009. Trust today, whether it is tangible or intangible, predicts performance in the future. The majority of prior research linked a current measure of trust with a current measure of performance, which blurs the trust and performance relationship, as it is likely that the relationship is reciprocal and higher levels of trust may be the result of good performance just as much as good performance is a result of higher levels of trust.

Keywords

Citation

Koch, B.J. and Koch, P.L.T. (2018), "Joint venture survival in China: the importance of tangible and intangible trust", Journal of Asia Business Studies, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 173-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-05-2016-0070

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles