What Drives Importer Opportunism? Learning from a Developing Country in Latin America

Abstract This research integrates transaction cost and relational exchange theories to depict a more nuanced explanation of exporter-importer exchange relationships when exporters operate from a developing country. Our study examines whether exporters’ investments in specific assets directly influence perceived importer opportunism, or whether these perceptions are driven by the mediating effects of interpersonal and inter-organizational trust and power. Contrary to the general transaction cost argument, we did not find any direct effect of exporter specific assets on perceived importer opportunism. Instead, we found that perceived importer power and exporter inter-organizational trust jointly mediate the exporter specific assets – perceived importer opportunism relationship. By incorporating a dimensional view of trust, we help to resolve conflicting theoretical specifications and empirical results found in the extant literature.