In this article, the authors report the development and testing of a model of importers’benevolence toward their foreign export suppliers. The model posits that an importer’s satisfaction with and commitment to its relationship with a foreign export supplier will have a positive impact on the importer’s benevolence toward that supplier, that an importer’s benevolence positively influences relationship performance, and that the benevolence-performance link is moderated by relationship duration. The authors tested the model with a sample of U.S. importers who buy from foreign exporters. The results indicate that the importers’ commitment to the relationship significantly influenced its benevolence; however, importers’satisfaction with the relationship did not significantly affect their benevolence. Importers’altruistic benevolence had a positive impact on performance in mature relationships but not in new relationships. Importers’ mutualistic benevolence had a significant influence on performance regardless of relationship duration.
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