Research on the relationship between relational capital and relational rent

Abstract

Background: With the development of world economic globalization and the advent of the sharing economy era, the competition is not existed between individual enterprises any more, while upgraded to be the competition and cooperation among partners. It is difficult for enterprises to obtain excessive profits only by internal resources and their own management. Therefore, they need to break through the limitation of internal resources and abilities to create new forms of excessive profits with their partners. Purpose: The purpose of this research, under theoretical frameworks of social capital and relational view, is to study the relationship between relational capital, which is an intangible resource, and relational rent as to find more theoretical basis for the cooperative enterprises. Research design, data, and methodology: Based on the analysis of the relevant literature, this research comes up with the idea that the formation of relational capital (including the approaches of trust and commitment) is via capital rent (involving Relational-specific Assets、Knowledge sharing Routines、Complementary Resources、Effective Governance) and then further puts forward the hypothesis and conceptual model of “relational capital” affecting “relational rent”. The current study selected Chinese manufacture industry as a sample frame and collected data from 304 respondents. Data were analyzed using structural equation model to test the hypotheses. Results: Through empirical study, it was found that trust and commitment have significant effects on knowledge sharing, complementary resources and co-governance, and there is no remarkable effect on the relationship-specific investment.

Keywords:

• relational rents
• competition
• information sharing
• supply chain
• relational capital

Public Interest Statement

Under economic globalization and sharing economy, competitions among enterprises are often reflected in the competition or cooperation between them and their partners. It is difficult for enterprises to obtain excessive profits only by internal resources and their own management. Therefore, they need to break through the limitation of internal resources and abilities to create new forms of excessive profits with their partners. The purposes of this research are to explore the relationship between relational capital, and relational rent, and to build more theoretical basis for enterprises to cooperate with. Based on the data of 304 respondents in Chinese manufacture industry, it was found that relational capital has some effects on relational rent. In other words, both trust and commitment among partners have significant effects on knowledge sharing, complementary resources or co-governance, but no remarkable effect on the relationship-specific investment. The results provide theoretical support for the relationship management in the cooperation among enterprises in China.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Li Zhang

Li Zhang is a doctoral candidate in business administration at the China-ASEAN International College of Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok, Thailand. She is a professor of management, School of Economics and Management at, Shandong Yingcai University, China. Her researches are related to supply chain management, and specially focused on customer relationship management and supply chain information sharing.

Jiafure Wang

Jiafure Wang is a director of PhD program in business administration at the China-ASEAN International College of Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok, Thailand. His researches are in the field of consumer behavior and organization behavior.