Trust in the US‐EU Fruit and Vegetable Chain: Do US Exporters Understand EU Importers?

Research on organizational and inter‐organizational trust has become an important field in management andmarketing literature, as it is perceived as a pivotal aspect of business transactions. However, clarifications arestill needed on the issue of whom we trust; is the person whom we are trading with trusted, or the organization,or just the product‐quality? Not only has this question not been answered within this field of research, neitherhave cultural differences have been described to any great extent. Additionally, if the perceived factorsimportant to establish trusting relationships may or may not be the same on the buyers and the sellers side ininternational business transaction in food chains. The primary objective of this research study therefore is toidentify how well US exporters understand the elements of trust that establish strong relationships with EUimporters. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to evaluate the importance of different trust elements ininterviews conducted with US exporters and EU importers of fruits and vegetables. Results are compared,providing both a picture of the important facets of trust, as well as whether the partners understand theperspectives of the other partner.