Developing business trust in government through resource exchange in China

Local governments may convince businesses that the government is a reliable, effective partner by interacting with them constructively. Results from 119 pairs of officials and managers support the theorizing that when governments and businesses believe that their goals are cooperative, but not competitive, they engage in resource exchange; these ways of integrative interaction in turn lead businesses to conclude that the government is competent, caring, and able to regulate industry effectively. These results suggest that cooperative goals and resource exchange are important foundations for successful partnerships between governments and businesses in China and perhaps in other countries as well. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012