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The purpose of this paper is to develop a social exchange perspective of planned short‐term dyadic strategic alliances.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a social exchange perspective of planned short‐term dyadic strategic alliances.
Design/methodology/approach
The article adopts a conceptual approach drawing on social exchange theory to elicit innovative conclusions about short‐term dyadic strategic alliances.
Findings
Finds that planned short‐term dyadic strategic alliances are difficult to manage, limit social control mechanisms, limit reciprocal activity and interrupt the development of trust.
Practical implications
The article can help managers and analysts working in investment banking to understand the underlying causes of alliance instability and/or failure in their industry.
Originality/value
The article offers practical insights into the functioning and management of short‐term dyadic alliances which will be of interest to both researchers and practising managers.
Details
Keywords
Dyadic multi-dimensionality informs the variation that exists within and between network ties and suggests that ties are not all the same and not all equally strategic. This…
Abstract
Dyadic multi-dimensionality informs the variation that exists within and between network ties and suggests that ties are not all the same and not all equally strategic. This chapter presents a model of dyadic evolution grounded in dyadic multi-dimensionality and framed within actor-level, dyadic-level, endogenous, and exogenous contexts. These contexts generate both strategic catalysts that motivate network action and bounded agency that may constrain such network action. Assuming the need to navigate within bounded agency, the model highlights three strategic processes that demonstrate how dyadic multi-dimensionality underlies the evolution of strategic network ties.
Two models of organizational behavior are reviewed. The apolitical model describes a relatively stable and centralized monolith, while the political model describes a potentially…
Abstract
Two models of organizational behavior are reviewed. The apolitical model describes a relatively stable and centralized monolith, while the political model describes a potentially unstable federation of self‐interested parties. It is argued that the apolitical model is largely predicated on social and generalized exchange and forces for stability, while the political model is largely predicated on economic and dyadic exchange and forces for instability. It is further argued that the contradictions inherent in these forces help fuel evolutionary change (where the apolitical model becomes most salient), punctuated by revolutionary change (where the political model becomes most salient). Thus, the two models apply simultaneously to organizational action, suggesting that the organization can be seen as both a stable monolith and an unstable coalition.
The study explores how a market-like organizational system realizes efficient and/or effective development by investigating the efficiency/effectiveness trade-off in micro-level…
Abstract
Purpose
The study explores how a market-like organizational system realizes efficient and/or effective development by investigating the efficiency/effectiveness trade-off in micro-level exchanges.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is motivated by two principles: reciprocity and similarity. Reciprocal benefits drive exchanges. Accordingly, two agents for a potential exchange should have different resources. However, differences in resources usually cause lack of trust, which hinders the efficient occurrence of exchanges. Alternatively, if two parties have similar resource positions, they can conduct an exchange efficiently. Nevertheless, the similarity makes the exchange less effective. Therefore, an efficiency/effectiveness trade-off exists in micro-level exchanges. To understand how different focuses on the efficiency/effectiveness trade-off shape the macro-level performance, the author develops a complex adaptive systems model for computer simulations.
Findings
The author finds that an efficiency-focus institution facilitates a market-like organizational system's rapid emergence but hinders the system's effective development.
Research limitations/implications
The study develops a model of how a dyadic exchange happens (or not) between any two parties in a competitive and uncertain environment and how the micro-level exchanges aggregate, suggesting one specific way to understand the micro-to-macro process of a market-like organizational system's economic dynamism. Future research is expected to improve the model with different contingencies.
Practical implications
The study's findings suggest that the efficiency-focus institution and the effectiveness-focus institution should be used at different times in a market-like organizational system's development process.
Originality/value
The study investigates the macro-level consequences building upon the micro-level efficiency/effectiveness trade-off.
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Keywords
Lucy Sojung Lee and Weiguo Zhong
This paper aims to investigate the importance and prevalence of Guanxi in business interactions in network-based societies such as China, few studies have the phenomenon from a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the importance and prevalence of Guanxi in business interactions in network-based societies such as China, few studies have the phenomenon from a dyadic view. In a business dyad, one partner may not value Guanxi and take it as a template for actions as the other does.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose that such collective and asymmetric Guanxi orientation influence both the creation and distribution of relational rent in a Guanxi dyad. Furthermore, relationship-specific investments (RSIs) moderate the relationship between dyadic Guanxi orientation and relational rent creation and distribution.
Findings
Based on a matched sample of supplier-buyer dyads in China, the authors find that joint Guanxi orientation is positively related to joint pie creation, whereas Guanxi orientation imbalance has a positive effect on the pie distribution imbalance.
Originality/value
These results contribute to the literature by revealing how dyadic Guanxi dynamics and practices affect dyadic performance and providing managers with meaningful implications for dyadic Guanxi management.
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Patrick Terrence Coyle and Roseanne Foti
The authors examine mutually exclusive sub-groups of congruent expectations for leader and follower roles relate to sub-groups of self-other endorsement, and how these patterns…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors examine mutually exclusive sub-groups of congruent expectations for leader and follower roles relate to sub-groups of self-other endorsement, and how these patterns predict relationship quality.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine patterns of congruent implicit theories relate to patterns of self-other endorsement, at the dyadic level, using latent class analysis in 193 working-adult dyads. The authors then examine how these patterns predict leader and follower assessments of relationship quality using general linear models (GLM).
Findings
The authors supported 4 classes of dyads with specific patterns of congruent (or incongruent) ILT's and IFT's: Role congruent, exchange congruent, committed leader congruent, and role incongruent dyads. Class membership predicted leader-assessed leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived support. The authors then supported 3 classes of self-other endorsement: dyads with mutual endorsement, leader identity endorsement, and no endorsement. Class membership predicted follower-assessed LMX, perceived support, and perceived contribution from leaders. Class membership corresponded meaningfully.
Originality/value
The authors empirically examine the extent to which relationship behavior can be understood: (1) by similar implicit theories, or (2) through identification with a leader or follower role. Moreover, the authors uncover unique combinations of congruence, and address a key challenge posed by traditional variable-oriented strategies typically used in LMX research.
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In complex buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs), contracts are always incomplete and many of the exchanges non-contractual. Because they occur over a long period of time and…
Abstract
Purpose
In complex buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs), contracts are always incomplete and many of the exchanges non-contractual. Because they occur over a long period of time and include unspecified obligations, non-contractual exchanges might be asymmetrical. The purpose of this paper is to examine BSRs with the aim of identifying the mechanisms that lead to asymmetry in exchanges.
Design/methodology/approach
The author conducts an analysis, based on social exchange theory (SET), of six buyer-supplier dyads using the main SET constructs. From this multiple-case analysis the author develops a set of propositions explaining the exchange asymmetry in complex buyer-supplier relations.
Findings
The results indicate that self-awareness of the determinants of attractiveness, use of power-balancing mechanisms, and primacy can explain the exchange asymmetry in BSRs.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is limited on the explanations for exchange asymmetry that are based on SET.
Practical implications
The study highlights the importance of firms using the power-balancing mechanism in order to gain value from supply chain partners. The results show that firms can use attractiveness strategically to influence supply chain partners, but the author also observe that firms generally are not well aware of the determinants of their attractiveness in BSRs, which ignorance may pose a major obstacle to using attractiveness strategically.
Originality/value
The paper provides the first systematic and comprehensive insight to social exchange mechanism in complex BSR. In this paper the author makes a major effort to clarify the basic assumptions and scope of the useful concepts and theoretical constructs of SET, and through a multiple-case study the author form a piece of substantive theory of SET in BSRs.
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Raina M. Rutti, Marilyn M. Helms and Laura C. Rose
To expand the literature and enhance understanding of the mentoring process, this research proposes the social exchange theory (SET) as a framework for the exchanges that take…
Abstract
Purpose
To expand the literature and enhance understanding of the mentoring process, this research proposes the social exchange theory (SET) as a framework for the exchanges that take place between individuals in a mentoring relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A detailed literature review for mentoring and Fiske's social exchange theory propositions, as well as work by Hofstede on power distance, gender, and diversity studies, provide a new approach to mentoring research.
Findings
The four relational structures (communal sharing, authority ranking, equality matching and market pricing) developed by Fiske and the effects of diversity are integrated with the existing mentoring literature to create a new model explaining the effects exchange type and diversity have on the perceived amount of support given and received during the maturation process of the mentoring relationship.
Research limitations/implications
This paper extends an under‐researched area of mentoring with discussion and suggests areas for future research. Specifically, the study focuses on operationalising and testing the proposed, expanded mentoring model in both qualitative and quantitative research for confirmation and further theory building.
Originality/value
By integrating mentoring and Fiske's social exchange theories to provide an alternative explanation for the mentoring process, this paper proposes a number of new possible relationships that will require quantitative, confirmatory research but should add significantly to this area of study. Propositions for further testing are provided as well as suggestions for operationalising and testing the model.
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Wondwesen Tafesse and Kåre Skallerud
The purpose of this study is to integrate divergent discussions located within the marketing, economic geography and economic sociology literature about trade fairs and their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to integrate divergent discussions located within the marketing, economic geography and economic sociology literature about trade fairs and their functions, around an exchange-based view of trade fairs.
Design/methodology/approach
Following an integrative review approach and drawing on thematic discussions found in social exchange theory, a large corpus of research articles on trade fairs was systematically reviewed and integrated.
Findings
Trade fairs facilitate five major exchange functions: transactional, informational, social, symbolic and cultural. Each of these functions is characterized by a distinctive combination of exchange structures, exchange rules, exchange resources and organizational outcomes.
Practical implications
The study offers practical guidelines regarding how exhibitors, visitors and organizers can develop and benefit from an exchange-based view of trade fairs.
Originality/value
The current study integrates three divergent literature streams into an exchange-based view of trade fairs. In so doing, the study offers a common conceptual foundation upon which future trade fair research can intersect and cross-fertilize.
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The research community currently employs four very different versions of the social network concept: A social network is seen as a set of socially constructed role relations…
Abstract
Purpose
The research community currently employs four very different versions of the social network concept: A social network is seen as a set of socially constructed role relations (e.g., friends, business partners), a set of interpersonal sentiments (e.g., liking, trust), a pattern of behavioral social interaction (e.g., conversations, citations), or an opportunity structure for exchange. Researchers conventionally assume these conceptualizations are interchangeable as social ties, and some employ composite measures that aim to capture more than one dimension. Even so, important discrepancies often appear for non-ties (as dyads where a specific role relation or sentiment is not reported, a specific form of interaction is not observed, or exchange is not possible).
Methodology/Approach
Investigating the interplay across the four definitions is a step toward developing scope conditions for generalization and application of theory across these domains.
Research Implications
This step is timely because emerging tools of computational social science – wearable sensors, logs of telecommunication, online exchange, or other interaction – now allow us to observe the fine-grained dynamics of interaction over time. Combined with cutting-edge methods for analysis, these lenses allow us to move beyond reified notions of social ties (and non-ties) and instead directly observe and analyze the dynamic and structural interdependencies of social interaction behavior.
Originality/Value of the Paper
This unprecedented opportunity invites us to refashion dynamic structural theories of exchange that advance “beyond networks” to unify previously disjoint research streams on relationships, interaction, and opportunity structures.
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