A survey of trust, control and information in networks

This paper focuses on which characteristics managers take into account when they choose and evaluate business partners, and the interrelationship between the constructs trust, control and information. The paper is based on a survey which includes 101 small and middle-sized manufacturing companies in Denmark. The results show that managers frequently express that trust is an important aspect of a good relationship. Also product-related attributes and relational attributes have a bearing in a network setting. On the other hand, no significant correlation between neither trust and control nor trust and information is found. The findings indicate that the three constructs are relevant, and the level of embeddedness is found to influence both the absolute and the relative importance of the three constructs, and thereby the role of management accounting at different development stages of relationships