PERCEPTION OF COOPERATION AND TRUST IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION : A STUDY ON POLISH EXPORTERS AND IMPORTERS COOPERATION WITH PARTNERS FROM CHINA AND GERMANY

Abstract

Trust is a basic coordination mechanism in interfirm relations while lack of trust is perceived as a cooperation barrier. However, building trust across cultural or national borders can be difficult because of cultural differences between partners. This study presents the results of the research on 278 Polish exporters and importers cooperating with partners from China and Germany and proves that the general perception of cooperation with partners from a given country influences the trust level in the cooperation with a given partner coming from this country. This dependence is the weakest in case of starting to trust the partner after the beginning of the cooperation.