Operational and relational governances of buyer–supplier exchanges

Purpose: This study examines the operational and relational governances as antecedents of cooperation commitment in buyer–supplier exchanges. It also assesses the impact of cooperation commitment on operational performance. Design/methodology/approach: Path analysis was performed on the data collected from manufacturers. Findings: The results of this study show that both operational and relational governances exert impact on cooperation commitment, which, in turn, is associated with operational performance improvement. Originality/value: First, this is the first study employing the reciprocity theory to theorize the conceptual framework of the governance antecedents of cooperation commitment and operations excellence effect. Second, the study highlights how the research framework can enrich the reciprocity theory in exploring the mechanisms of the operational and relational governances of buyer–supplier exchanges and their impact on the commitment to the cooperation. Third, this study extends the reciprocity theory to examine in detail how cooperation commitment exerts impact on the operational performance.