Chapter 7: Key Antecedents of Foreign Partner’s Trust In International Strategic Alliances and The Impact of Trust on ISA Performance

The aim of this study is to propose a set of critical antecedent factors of trust development among partners in International Strategic Alliances (ISAs) and to examine the trust–performance relationship in ISAs. The conceptual framework of this study is based on elements from social exchange theory (SET). The proposed theoretical model includes six factors (positive partner reputation, communication quality, partner resource complementarity, prior collaboration, existence of a shared vision and senior management commitment) which are regarded as being important for trust building. Furthermore, the conceptual framework proposes (a) a positive effect of the level of trust the foreign partner has towards the local partner on ISA performance, and (b) the use of environmental hostility in the local market as a moderator of this effect. The chapter presents a theoretical model that is planned to be tested through a questionnaire survey among ISAs that operate in the South East Europe region, an under-researched market.