Product Complexity and Cultural Distance Effects on Managing International Distributor Relationships: A Contingency Approach

Abstract

How should an exporter manage its relationship with its intermediaries given different levels of performance ambiguity? The author addresses this question by exploring four different settings of performance ambiguity that involve cultural distance (external uncertainty) and product complexity (internal uncertainty). Using a sample of 173 Norwegian exporting companies, the author analyzes relational drivers’ effect on relationship quality between trading partners—namely, exporters and their distributors. The results suggest that cultural distance and product complexity are two key contingency factors that moderate the role of relational mechanisms used by exporters in creating relationship quality with their foreign sales intermediaries. The author concludes by discussing implications for research and management.