The Preference of Inter-Organizational Trust on Corporate Benefit-Seeking Behaviors: A Mechanisms-Based and Policy-Capturing Analysis

In the realm of organizational cooperation, the choice of benefit behaviors has a profound impact on the sustainability of the collaboration. The influence of trust relationships on firms’ decisions regarding private versus common benefit behaviors has been a subject of debate among researchers. To address this debate, we propose and test an analytical framework that acknowledges the presence of two fundamental dimensions in partner relationships: calculative trust and relational trust. Through the utilization of a policy-capturing approach, we rigorously examine and validate our hypotheses at a mechanistic level. Our findings indicate that both calculative trust and relational trust increase the likelihood of firms adopting both private and common benefit behaviors. Furthermore, in terms of comparative choices between private and common benefit behaviors, calculative trust exerts a stronger influence on firms’ preference for private benefit, while relational trust has a stronger impact on firms’ preference for common benefit. Lastly, we discuss the theoretical and empirical implications arising from the results of this study.