Buyer-Supplier Relationship Outcomes: The Role of Transactional and Relational Mechanisms in Supply Chain Network

Firms are collaborating more in supply chain network and identified the importance of building relationships between them. This idea has been embraced by academic and empirical research in operations management since last decade. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive integrated conceptual and empirical framework which elaborates the role of both transactional and relational factors to highlight the performance of buyer-supplier relationships. While there have been limited studies that explored these mechanisms separately or did not provide the dynamic interactive role of transactional and relational factors in integrated framework. Through multiple case studies of buyer-supplier relationships, the findings reveal the impact of selected transactional and relational mechanisms in complex relationships to get competitive advantage. This study contributes to debate on managing complex business network relationships by providing a theoretically and empirically proven integrated model.