Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Rationality and Society
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by de Ruijter, E.
Right arrow Articles by Weesie, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Working your Way in

How Trust Problems and Social Embeddedness Affect the Behavior of Home Maintenance Suppliers

Esther de Ruijter

Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands; e.deruijter{at}fss.uu.nl

Jeroen Weesie

ICS/Sociology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140. 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands; j.weesie{at}fss.uu.nl

This article studies the influence of trust problems and social embeddedness on the behavior of home maintenance suppliers, especially (1) their efforts to convince households of their trustworthiness, and (2) whether or not they will behave opportunistically. Data were collected by means of a vignette experiment among 83 home maintenance suppliers, with a total of 165 vignettes. To some extent, the problem potential increases the efforts suppliers make to convince the household of their trustworthiness; a large transaction volume increases the amount of time spent on drawing up a quotation. Suppliers are more likely to behave opportunistically if more complex jobs are involved. Network embeddedness prevents opportunism and decreases the investments made in commitments, while dyadic embeddedness has no effect. Apparently, it is less important for suppliers to invest in dyadic relations than staying on good terms with people who can spread negative information about them to others.

Key Words: household outsourcing • supplier behavior • trust problems

Rationality and Society, Vol. 19, No. 1, 35-64 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1043463106066378
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?