To illustrate, the rule of law in the United States enables firms to economically engage in business relationships formed not on a basis of personal trust, but instead on a basis of efficiency. That is, if suppliers do not perform satisfactorily, the legal system in the United States provides recourse. In other cultures seeking redress through the courts can considerably more difficult and time consuming. In the later, trust in a partner becomes all the more critical. Trust is something that must be earned and therefore takes time to develop.
Reputation can serve as a proxy indicator of a potential partner's trustworthiness.
Previous research has typically focused on what the impacted party does when failures arise by focusing mainly on customer defection and the resulting negative word-of mouth. However, a topic of equal importance is what buyers and sellers can do to recover from these failures that in essence can strengthen each partner's trust in the relationship. Unfortunatly, very little exists in a business to business context. My intuition is that 'commitment' is the glue that holds relationships together during difficult times. Trust, enhanced by performance satisfaction, social bonds and non retreivable investments, strengthen commitment to a relationship.