Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how the choice of buying managers to share or limit the sharing of strategic information with their suppliers relates to the presence or absence of goodwill and competence trust in the buyer–supplier relationship. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive single case study of a mid-sized retailer was used. In total, 17 semi-structured interviews examining information sharing events were conducted with buying managers, along with the analysis of company documents. Findings Goodwill and competence trust have a positive effect on strategic information sharing, yet this study reveals several tactics used by buying managers in the presence of competence trust only. With a lack of established trust, or earlier trust breaches, little to no information sharing occurs. Research limitations/implications This study featured cross-sectional data of a single case from the buyer’s perspective. This limits its generalizability, yet provides opportunities to test the findings through longitudinal studies, potentially gathering data from both buyers and suppliers. Practical implications Relating which types of information being shared for different forms of trust guides managers’ expectations on which type of trust they wish to build for each of their buyer–supplier relationships. Originality/value This study examines the trust and information sharing relationship in more detail, linking different types of trust to categories of strategic information. It also distinguishes between the different concepts of encouraging information sharing and deliberately limiting strategic information sharing.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine how buyer-supplier episodes are characterised by their dimensions of time and social space, and how these dimensions interact to impact the criticality of an episode; second, to explore how time and social space create patterns of episodes that lead to buyer-supplier relationship change and continuity; and third, to examine the social space by the different roles that the buyer assumes among their episodes, while focusing on the concept of critical time to denote the temporal context. Design/methodology/approach A case study of a small retailer and five suppliers is employed. The primary data are e-mail communications between the buying and selling firms, along with a two-week field study at the retailer’s location. A total of 2,000 e-mails are coded to yield 75 episodes for the analysis. Findings The criticality of episodes differs depending on the role that the buyer assumes, and whether the episode occurs within a critical time period. The social space affects the type of criticality, while critical times enhance an episode’s criticality. This study outlines five different patterns of episodes occurring within critical times and across social spaces that characterise each of the buyer-supplier relationships. Research limitations/implications This paper focuses on e-mail communication, with little data on interactions occurring outside of this medium. Originality/value To the researcher’s knowledge, this paper is the first to link specific patterns of episode characteristics to the concept of buyer roles. It also examines episodes using e-mail communication, which is not a common source within the IMP research stream.

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