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Introduction
In the modern environment, companies compete by reducing costs and improving service levels, and to create added value in the supply chain, they must build collaborative channels with partners (Fawcett et al., 2012). This directive applies to shippers, carriers, and logistics services providers (LSPs), which choose long-term logistics partners to promote performance improvements. For LSPs, partnerships can reduce the costs and improve the performance of logistics through joint activities and information sharing. For example, governance mechanisms in horizontal cooperation among LSPs improve the efficiency of transportation networks, information sharing, and the speed of the cooperation process, thereby enhancing firm performance and increasing market success (Raue and Wieland, 2015). From a shipper’s point of view, collaborative relationships can reduce inventories and increase effectiveness among trading partners, thereby reducing managerial costs, expediting deliveries, and producing higher service levels for the end client (Ellram and Cooper, 1990; Simatupang and Sridharan, 2002).
The dimensions of collaboration have been widely studied in the supply chain management literature (Heide and John, 1990; Ellram, 1991; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Barratt, 2004; Whan et al., 2005; Min et al., 2005; Simatupang and Sridharan, 2005a, b; Daugherty et al., 2006; Nyaga et al., 2010; Fawcett et al., 2012). Barratt (2004) and Vieira et al. (2009) identified the elements of supply chain collaboration and the main barriers to implementation. Additionally, they emphasized the need to explore the issues of “when” and “with whom” to collaborate, recalling the importance of supplier selection, including meetings and relationship history, for effective collaboration implementation (Hong et al., 2005; Min et al., 2005; Sandberg, 2007). Several authors have analyzed the impact of collaboration on performance (Corsten and Felde, 2005; Stank et al., 2001; Krause et al., 2007; Flynn et al., 2010; Prajogo and Olhager, 2012; Whipple et al., 2010; Simatupang and Sridharan, 2005a; Nyaga et al., 2010; Leuschner et al., 2014; Li et al., 2015) and the interaction of supply management and performance (Ellram and Cooper, 1990; Liao et al., 2010; Prajogo et al., 2012). Stank et al. (2001) emphasized the role of internal and external collaboration in achieving logistical service performance. A high frequency of regular meetings positively impacts the buyer-supplier...