The Effects of Cultural Familiarity and Value Similarity on Benevolence in the Export-Import Relationship

Abstract

This study examines the effects of importers cultural familiarity and

value similarity on the importers benevolence towards its foreign

exporter in an export-import relationship. The results indicate that both

the importers cultural familiarity and value similarity significantly affect

the importers commitment to the relationship with the exporter partner.

The results also indicate that affective commitment has a positive effect

on altruistic benevolence and calculative commitment has a positive

influence on mutualistic benevolence. In turn, the importers

mutualistic benevolence is shown to have a positive impact on

relationship performance. Managerial implications for international

marketers are discussed.