Trust and performance in cross-border marketing partnerships: A behavioral approach

Existing research on international partnerships focuses primarily on the ex ante structuring of interorganizational relationships. This study departs from this research by taking a behavioral approach to understand the ex post maintenance of cross-border marketing partnerships. A conceptual model is developed by identifying the antecedents of trust and performance in such partnerships. The model is empirically tested on a sample of U.S. firms having distributor and licensing relationships with firms from Asia, Europe, and Central/South America. Findings support the importance of bilateral relational norms and informal monitoring mechanisms in building interorganizational trust and improving market performance of international partnerships.