1. ¹IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain
2. ²Chapman Graduate School of Business, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
3. ³College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Correspondence: A Ariño, IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Av. Pearson, 21, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. Tel: +34 93 253 4200; Fax: +34 93 253 4343; E-mail: afarino@iese.edu

Abstract

Management scholars have often used the concept of trust – an individual level phenomenon – at the inter-organizational level of analysis. We offer an alternative construct to inter-organizational trust: relational quality. We argue that relational quality is the dynamic outcome of several organizational processes that include initial conditions, negotiation and transaction processes that occur early in the relationship, partner interactions, and external events that characterize the latter stages of the relationship. We develop a series of propositions about the relative influence of these elements on relational quality, and offer additional propositions that, in the context of strategic alliances, differentiate the roles of relational quality at the organizational level from those of inter-personal trust between individuals.