Competency Trust in Wholesaler-Retailer Relationships

The effective management of wholesaler-retailer relationships is an avenue for businesses to gain strategic competitive advantage. Further, the literature indicates the most significant relationship component for the successful functioning of such relationships is the development of trust. Trust is nominated as a key construct in industrial marketing, selling partnerships, supplier relationships and sales relationships. Moreover, there are a number of forms that
trust can take in these business to business relationships; the most regularly cited forms being contractual, competence and goodwill trust. Competency trust has been identified as the most important of these three trust constructs. Consequently, using the case study method, this research explores the components of trust and examines how competency trust, as the most
critical form of trust, is developed in wholesaler–retailer relationships. Findings confirm the importance of competency trust and suggest that it is developed by a combination of performance, expertise and communication.