Items

• We have a long term commitment to the relationship.
• We view the relationship with the service provider as a partnership.
• Our senior management seeks to develop a positive relationship with the provider and their management team.
• Both risks and rewards are shared with the external provider.
• We make investments that are unique to our relationship with the provider.

Source

• Handley/Benton (2009): Unlocking the business outsourcing process model. Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 344–361.

Related Scales

• Interorganizational loyalty
• Relational embeddedness
• Supplier commitment

Description

To measure the construct, the authors relied on scale items previously used by Cullen et al. (1995), Kale et al. (2000), McEvily & Marcus (2005), and Sarkar et al. (2001).

Definition

Relational commitment captures the partners’ intent to establish enduring, reciprocal obligations in their alliance (Madhok, 1995).

Items

In this alliance, the firm and its partner:

• Invest the resources needed for maintaining alliance operations (e.g., dedicated and trained personnel, marketing funds, engineering resources). (0.83)
• Receive support for this alliance from their respective corporate management. (0.83)
• Regularly share and exchange information. (0.85)
• Have effective conflict resolution mechanisms (e.g., identifying problems, escalating, intervening, communicating, and jointly solving problems to overcome disagreements). (0.84)

Source

• Lavie et al. (2012): Organizational Differences, Relational Mechanisms, and Alliance Performance. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 33, No. 13, pp. 1453–1479

Related Scales

• See above