Research Center of Henan Economy, School of Business Administration, Henan University of Economics and Law, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
School of Management and Economics, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450045, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Oct 8;16(19):3773. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16193773.
Repurchasing intention of agricultural materials is a key to a sustainable food business system. The novel contribution of this study is that we go beyond technical aspect and look into human capital dynamics in a general context, by examining how different dimensions of 'guanxi' (i.e., personal relations and instrumentality) between farmers and agricultural retailers affect trust between the two and, in turn, repeated purchase intention of agricultural materials by farmers in China. To further generate implications for food system as a whole, we also examined how dynamic environment moderates the effects mentioned above. Adopting survey method and multivariate analyses, this study tests the hypotheses with a collected data set of 578 farmers from representative rural areas of China. The results show that guanxi between farmers and agricultural retailers has a positive effect on trust between them and on repeated purchase intentions of farmers. While instrumentality has a negative effect on trust between them and on repeated purchase intentions of farmers. The trust between farmers and agricultural retailers promotes farmers' repeated purchase intentions. The intensity of competition negatively moderates the positive relation between trust and repeated purchases. Demand uncertainty does not moderate the positive effect of trust on repeated purchases. The results and discussion shed light on agricultural food system sustainability from a dynamic environment embedded business relationship perspective.
农资回购意向是可持续食品业务系统的关键。本研究的新颖之处在于，我们超越了技术层面，从一般背景出发考察了人力资本动态，研究了农民和农资零售商之间不同维度的“关系”（即人际关系和工具性）如何影响两者之间的信任，进而影响中国农民对农资的重复购买意向。为了进一步为整个食品系统产生影响，我们还检验了动态环境如何调节上述影响。本研究采用问卷调查法和多元分析方法，利用中国具有代表性的农村地区 578 名农民的数据集检验了这些假设。结果表明，农民和农资零售商之间的关系对他们之间的信任和农民的重复购买意向有正向影响。而工具性对他们之间的信任和农民的重复购买意向有负向影响。农民和农资零售商之间的信任促进了农民的重复购买意向。竞争强度负向调节信任与重复购买之间的正相关关系。需求不确定性不会调节信任对重复购买的正向影响。研究结果和讨论从嵌入商业关系的动态环境角度揭示了农业食品系统可持续性。
