Trust in Procurement Decisions of New Zealand SMEs

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the role of trust or confidence through the managerial lens. The chapter aims to acquire empirical evidence regarding the importance of factors that play a role in fostering trust during procurement decision making exemplified through a New Zealand-owned company, ContainerCo. This exploratory study scrutinises trust as perceived by SME managers in the supply chain of logistics and procurement in New Zealand. It uses the repertory grid analysis and is based on two interviews conducted through the repertory grid technique, a semi-structured method. Although different in every company and country, trust plays a major role during the selection of suppliers. Factors such as reliability and value are regarded as the most important ones for choosing the right supplier in the case of ContainerCo.