Relationship quality is a central theme in business to business relationships, and it is becoming increasingly important from a theoretical as well as practical perspective to understand and monitor relationship quality. Despite its pivotal role, measurement issues of relationship quality have not been systematically investigated, confounded by a lack of consensus on the dimensions and contents of this construct. This paper presents a comprehensive review on the measures of relationship quality, and proposes the CLOSES scale as a new monitoring tool. This higher order, multidimensional scale reflects the intensity of communication (C), long-term orientation (LO), and social and economic satisfaction (SES) of a focal actor in a business relationship. Tested with data collected from 404 construction companies and cross-checked with a second round of data collection from 201 companies in other various industries, using partially multiple respondents, this new scaleshows good reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity, as well as cross-industry transferability. Thus, future academic research as well as practical management of business relationships is enriched by providing a valid and reliable tool that is not tied to a specific industry setting, to capture the important construct of relationship quality.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the levels of trust and reliance in different international business markets. The paper aims to obtain empirical evidence regarding the importance of relational aspects (trust) vis‐à‐vis organisational ones (reliance) for building long‐term business relationships.Design/methodology/approachThis is an exploratory study to examine trust and reliance in the manufacturing and construction industries of four countries: UK, India, Pakistan, and Poland. Statistical analysis is based on a data sample of 501 responses collected through a survey of buying and selling relationships.FindingsAlthough varying across countries, stable relationships with high levels of both trust and reliance exist widely in business markets. Exclusively trust‐based business relationships, i.e. those which are mainly driven by individual‐level aspects, are very rare. However, both trust and reliance are significant for building relationships with long‐term perspectives.Practical implicationsManagers in firms who want to build advantageous and sustainable business relationships need to be able to discern the difference between trust in people on the one hand, and reliance on the partner firms on the other. This research shows that to maintain sustainable relationships, firms should not only focus their relational capabilities on enhancing reliance aspects with their business partners, but also aim to build good levels of trust in the interaction.

Purpose -There is conflicting evidence of the extent to which business relationships in the UK construction industry are based on trust between closely collaborating parties or alternatively are more adversarial in nature, based on dependence between the parties. This study seeks to provide empirical evidence about the effects of trust and dependence in business relationships in this industry. Design/methodology/approach -A large quantitative survey was conducted with buying firms, resulting in a total of 636 usable responses from 404 firms to test a model using structural equation modelling. The authors test the extent to which trust and dependence act as antecedents to four dimensions identified from the literature as being important determinants of relationship quality: commitment, communication, satisfaction, and longterm orientation. Findings -The results provide good evidence for the hypotheses in the authors' model: relational characteristics associated with relationship quality are mainly driven by the interpersonal trust between buyers and their suppliers. Interorganisational dependence, evidence of more adversarial relationships, has either no direct impact on relational consequences or at best far less impact than trust. Originality/value -This research substantiates trust as a key factor influencing relational characteristics associated with relationship quality in the UK construction industry. The findings confirm the earlier work in this industry that trust is an important strategic tool in supplier relationship management.

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