Conclusion, limitations, and future research
This research mainly aims at the logistics service industry to understand the influence of flexibility and collaboration on the relationship quality elements of trust, dependence, and commitment. Drawing on the RBV and RM theories, a research model was developed and was tested using SEM. The results show the relationships among communication, collaboration, and flexibility capabilities and further confirm the relationships among the relationship quality elements. All hypotheses were supported, except for H6, suggesting that collaboration and flexibility capabilities indeed are positively associated with relationship quality in the logistics service business context. Although the findings of our study are informative, a few limitations bear mentioning. First, this study used a cross-sectional survey approach to collect data on all research variables. Compared with longitudinal data, cross-sectional data might not be able to demonstrate completely the temporal sequence of the antecedents and consequences, which might result in spurious cause–effect inferences. Further research may be needed to design a longitudinal sampling plan that runs across business years or quarters. Second, the data were collected from logistics managers and employees in Taiwan. As a result, they cannot fully represent the global logistics service market. To better understand the applicability of the proposed model, a more representative sample that covers areas in different countries is required. This study may serve as a preliminary investigation of the relationship between competitive capabilities and relationship quality for LSPs. We believe that this study provides a big picture of the relationship quality for LSPs and thereby hope that the findings may inspire further research to study deeper in related issues.
