An empirical study of impact factors of information sharing among partners of "a company+farmers" from Chinese data

Abstract

The study is aimed at discussing how a company shares information with farmers and whether information sharing would improve company's performance in "a company+farmers" pattern. Based on related literature, a theoretical relationship model of trust, relationship commitment, information sharing and alliance performance in "a company+farmers" is proposed. This model is empirically tested using data from 202 agricultural companies in Guangdong and Hainan Provinces in China. The result shows that trust significantly and positively impacts relationship commitment, information sharing and alliance performance. And it confirms that relationship commitment and information sharing also have a significant positive impact on alliance performance. These findings provide guidelines for managers of agricultural companies. Managers should not only emphasize the development of high level trust and relationship commitment with farmers but also should improve enterprise performance through more effective information sharing with farmers. © 2013 Asian Network for Scientific Information.