Inter-firm dependence, inter-firm trust, and operational performance: The mediating effect of e-business integration

•Advance the understanding of e-business integration in the supply chain context.•Examine the effect of relational governance on e-business integration.•Reveal the mediating effect of e-business integration on operational performance.•Make contributions to research and practice in e-business and supply chain management. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationships of relational governance, e-business integration, and operational performance in a supply chain context. We operationalize relational governance with inter-firm dependence and inter-firm trust to build a structural model. The empirical analysis of our survey data collected from manufacturing firms reveals that e-business integration significantly mediates the effects of inter-firm dependence and inter-firm trust on operational performance. The present work justifies the mediating mechanism of e-business integration and advances the understanding of the impact of relational governance on operational performance. The findings contribute to research and practice in e-business and supply chain management.