Trust, Relationship Commitment and Supply Chain Integration in China

Supply chain integration (SCI) among different trading partners within a supply chain (SC) has received increasing attention from academician and practitioners in recent years. However, our knowledge of what influences or enables SCI between trading partners, and how integrations in the SC influence the performance of the SC and firms within the SC, is still very limited. In this paper, we develop and test the measurement instruments for SCI and performance. We also investigate the impact of trust, relationship commitment on SCI and the impact of SCI on SC performance. We propose and empirically tested a model of SCI using data collected from manufacturers within the SC from China. The results show that trust and perceived strategic importance of relationship with the supplier and customers significantly improve relationship commitment. Relationship commitment positively influences SCI and SCI leads to SC performance and the financial performance of the firm within the SC. This study provides important insights for future researchers to understand trust, relationship commitment and SCI from various perspectives.