IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ebg/iesewp/d-0389.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Relational quality: A dynamic framework for assessing the role of trust in strategic alliances

Author

Listed:
  • Ariño, Africa

    (IESE Business School)

  • de la Torre, Jose

    (The Anderson School at UCLA)

  • Ring, Peter S.

    (Loyola Marymount University)

Abstract

The organizational literature has always posited that «trust» plays a key role in economic exchanges, particularly when one or another party is subject to the risk of opportunistic behaviour, incomplete monitoring, or when moral hazard problems arise. These conditions are almost always present in the case of alliances and joint ventures between independent parties. This paper explores the concept of «relational quality» in one such inter-organizational form ­dyadic alliances­ where past experience and the shadow of the future play an important role. Relational quality is important, as it affects the extent to which partners substitute reliance on trust for more formal control mechanisms. Building on theory, case studies and survey data, we develop a framework for thinking about trust in dynamic and practical terms. We define three elements affecting relational quality in alliances: the initial conditions surrounding the exchange, the cumulative experiences of the parties with each other's behaviours as they interact, and the impact that external events have on perceptions of behaviour and attitudes of the parties about each other's trustworthiness. We use data on a sample of alliances with one Spanish partner to explore the relative impact of these elements and develop a more precise set of propositions from this framework. The paper should guide further work towards quantifying the role of trust as a control mechanism in the performance of strategic alliances.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariño, Africa & de la Torre, Jose & Ring, Peter S., 1999. "Relational quality: A dynamic framework for assessing the role of trust in strategic alliances," IESE Research Papers D/389, IESE Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0389
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/DI-0389-E.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arvind Parkhe, 1993. "Partner Nationality and the Structure-Performance Relationship in Strategic Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(2), pages 301-324, May.
    2. Edward J. Zajac & Cyrus P. Olsen, 1993. "From Transaction Cost To Transactional Value Analysis: Implications For The Study Of Interorganizational Strategies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 131-145, January.
    3. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    4. Tarun Khanna, 1998. "The Scope of Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 340-355, June.
    5. Jay B. Barney & Mark H. Hansen, 1994. "Trustworthiness as a Source of Competitive Advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S1), pages 175-190, December.
    6. Africa Ariño & José de la Torre, 1998. "Learning from Failure: Towards an Evolutionary Model of Collaborative Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 306-325, June.
    7. Akbar Zaheer & N. Venkatraman, 1995. "Relational governance as an interorganizational strategy: An empirical test of the role of trust in economic exchange," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(5), pages 373-392.
    8. Peter Smith Ring, 1997. "Transacting in the State of Union: A Case Study of Exchange Governed by Convergent Interests," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 1-25, January.
    9. Nooteboom, B. & Berger, H. & Noorderhaven, N.G., 1997. "Effects of trust and governance on relational risk," Other publications TiSEM 8e83932e-064c-40e8-afe7-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Anoop Madhok & Stephen B. Tallman, 1998. "Resources, Transactions and Rents: Managing Value Through Interfirm Collaborative Relationships," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 326-339, June.
    11. Mitchell P. Koza & Arie Y. Lewin, 1998. "The Co-Evolution of Strategic Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 255-264, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dawid Szostek, 2019. "The Impact of the Quality of Interpersonal Relationships between Employees on Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Study of Employees in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-33, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ariño, Africa & de la Torre, Jose & Ring, Peter S., 2001. "Roles played by relational trust in strategic alliances," IESE Research Papers D/432, IESE Business School.
    2. Andrew C. Inkpen & Steven C. Currall, 2004. "The Coevolution of Trust, Control, and Learning in Joint Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 586-599, October.
    3. Stephan Duschek, 2004. "Inter-Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 15(1), pages 53-73.
    4. Ariño, Africa & García-Canal, Esteban & Valdes, Ana, 1999. "Longevity of strategic alliances between competitors: A dynamic value creation approach," IESE Research Papers D/404, IESE Business School.
    5. Ziggers, Gerrit Willem & Tjemkes, Brian, 2010. "Dynamics in Inter‐Firm Collaboration: The Impact of Alliance Capabilities on Performance," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 1(2), pages 1-16.
    6. Dries Faems & Maddy Janssens & René Bouwen & Bart Van Looy, 2006. "Governing Explorative R&D Alliances: Searching for Effective Strategies," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 17(1), pages 9-29.
    7. Yan, Aimin & Gray, Barbara, 2001. "Negotiating control and achieving performance in international joint ventures: A conceptual model," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 295-315.
    8. Bidault, Francis & de la Torre, José R. & Zanakis, Stelios H. & Ring, Peter Smith, 2018. "Willingness to rely on trust in global business collaborations: Context vs. demography," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 373-391.
    9. Pak, Yong Suhk & Ra, Wonchan & Park, Young-Ryeol, 2009. "Understanding IJV performance in a learning and conflict mediated context," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 470-480, October.
    10. Mark de Rond & Hamid Bouchikhi, 2004. "On the Dialectics of Strategic Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 56-69, February.
    11. Alexander Zimmermann & Sebastian Raisch & Julian Birkinshaw, 2015. "How Is Ambidexterity Initiated? The Emergent Charter Definition Process," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 1119-1139, August.
    12. Chung, Chris Changwha & Beamish, Paul W., 2012. "Multi-party international joint ventures: Multiple post-formation change processes," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 648-663.
    13. Müller, Dirk, 2010. "Alliance Coordination, Dysfunctions, and the Protection of Idiosyncratic Knowledge in Strategic Learning Alliances," EconStor Preprints 41039, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    14. Jiang, Xu & Li, Yuan & Gao, Shanxing, 2008. "The stability of strategic alliances: Characteristics, factors and stages," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 173-189, June.
    15. M. V. Shyam Kumar, 2010. "Differential Gains Between Partners in Joint Ventures: Role of Resource Appropriation and Private Benefits," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 232-248, February.
    16. Bo Bernhard Nielsen & Sabina Nielsen, 2009. "Learning and Innovation in International Strategic Alliances: An Empirical Test of the Role of Trust and Tacitness," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 1031-1056, September.
    17. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca & Piva, Evila, 2006. "In search of complementary assets: The determinants of alliance formation of high-tech start-ups," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1166-1199, October.
    18. Piaskowska, D., 2005. "Essays on firm growth and value creation," Other publications TiSEM 89053610-79c6-4c52-9d1c-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Pei-Li Yu, 2019. "Interfirm coopetition, trust, and opportunism: a mediated moderation model," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 1069-1092, November.
    20. Malik, Tariq, 2012. "Disparate association between alliance social capital and the global pharmaceutical firm's performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 1017-1028.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0389. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Noelia Romero (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ienaves.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.