Transformations  in
Business & Economics

RELATIONAL GOVERNANCE AND PERFORMANCES OF SUPPLIER ALLIANCE: MEDIATING EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER⁴
Yunhe Li, Baosheng Zhang

ABSTRACT: Relational governance, as an effective way for alliance enterprises to achieve high-performance levels, has attracted extensive attention from management scholars. Therefore, how to promote effective knowledge transfer between enterprises through relational governance mechanism, and then improve performances of the alliance, has become one of the key issues in alliance governance. To explore the mechanism of relational governance on performances of supplier alliance, using the sample data of 203 Chinas supplier alliance enterprises obtained from June to December 2021, based on multiple regression analysis, and structural equation model, the impact of relational governance on performances of supplier alliance and the mediating effect of knowledge transfer were examined from perspectives of the resources and capabilities. Results show that: (1) Relational governance has a significant positive impact on performances of supplier alliance through goal sharing and trust. (2) Relational governance has a significant positive impact on knowledge transfer through trust and communication. (3) Knowledge transfer plays a partial mediating effect in the process of relational governance positively affecting performances of supplier alliance. The obtained conclusions have significantly references to deepen the research on supplier alliance governance and performances, and provide an important guidance for the supplier management practice.

KEYWORDS:  relational governance, performances of the alliance, knowledge transfer, supplier management

JEL classification:  L14, M11, O14.

⁴Acknowledgments:  This study was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (No. 17BJL056) and Major project of applied research of philosophy and social sciences in colleges and universities of Henan Province (No. 2019-YYZD-13).