Antecedents of Trust in Buyer-Supplier Relations in Developing Countries: The Case of the Turkish Automotive Sector

Despite the fact that academic literature on interfirm trust initially focused on US and Japanese firms, there has been an increase in studies of other nations in recent years. In particular, these studies have underlined the different dynamics of trust formation in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to develop a model demonstrating how the antecedents of trust differ as to the inherent environmental and cultural characteristics of developing nations. Based on Dyer and Chu's (2000) model, this study develops its arguments via examples from the Turkish automotive industry. The study presents a number of propositions that may constitute the foundation of future empirical studies, and offers several organizational characteristics that may be helpful as control variables.