Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically how a distributor's trust in a supplier and its use of control mechanisms affect the values it gains from the relationship.

Design/methodology/approach – Factor analysis and a structural equation model were used to test the framework in a sample of 251 distributors in the household appliances industry in China.

Findings – The findings show that a distributor's honesty trust in a supplier enhances the direct value gained through the use of both contract and relational norms, but hinders and promotes the indirect value gained through the use of contract and relational norms respectively. A distributor's benevolence trust promotes the direct and indirect value gained through the use of relational norms, but impedes the direct value and enhances the indirect value gained through the use of contracts.

Research limitations/implication – A distributor's trust in a supplier may involve competence trust besides honesty trust and benevolence trust. Hence, the framework can be further studied in the situations where the distributor's trust in the supplier's competence is considered. Moreover, the sample of the empirical study only comes from the household appliances industry, and research in future may be extended to include multiple industries.

Practical implications – The paper may help distributors choose and use the proper control mechanism as well as foster a suitable kind of trust in suppliers to realize the objectives of maximizing the relationship value.

Originality/value – The results permit an in-depth look into the effects of trust and control mechanisms on the relational values in a channel relationship context.