Abstract
Trust is key to successful trading relationships and is believed to be essential in maintaining confidence in their future, particularly if exposed to game-changing events. Thus, this study examines how 193 Danish small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) trust levels and their perceptions of how this trust is composed correlate with their confidence in the future of trading with their British business partners in the context of Brexit and COVID-19 towards the end of the so-called “transition period”. The survey shows that when Danish CEOs have high levels of trust in their business partner, they also have strong confidence that a valued business relationship will survive exposure to disruptive exogenous events. The survey also shows that the trust dimensions recognised as either expertness, truthfulness, or attentiveness in a business partner are almost equally valued and correlate equally with the respondents' confidence in the future.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 62-85 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| ISSN | 1479-3059 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- Brexit
- confidence
- COVID-19
- credibility
- inter-organisational trust
- relationship maintenance
- small and medium-sized enterprises
- SMEs
- uncertainty