IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i5p4683-d1089223.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The “Double-Edged Sword” Effect of Personal Relationships between Boundary Personnel on Enterprise Opportunistic Behavior in Cooperative Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Mengli Gao

    (School of Management, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou 310015, China)

  • Muddassar Sarfraz

    (School of Management, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou 310015, China)

  • Wasi Ul Hassan Shah

    (School of Management, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou 310015, China)

Abstract

In collaborative innovation, personal relationships between boundary personnel of knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) enterprises and organizational customers have a “double-edged sword” effect on inter-organizational relations. This study adopts the empirical research method based on KIBS enterprises’ cooperative innovation projects with organizational customers in China. Based on the theory of the inter-organizational relationship, this study explores the influence of personal relationships between employees at the boundary of enterprises on organizational customers’ opportunistic behavior. It analyzes the mediating effect of relationship governance and contract governance. The results show that personal relationships between boundary personnel will improve the probability of corporate customer opportunism. The relationship between governance and contract governance for enterprises can effectively restrain the opportunistic behavior of organizational customers. Further, the personal relationships between boundary personnel will enhance the relationship norms and inhibit the opportunistic behavior of organizational customers, and relationship governance plays a partial intermediary role in this. The personal relationships between employees at an enterprise’s boundary will relax the contract’s supervision and encourage corporate customer opportunism. Contract governance plays a partial intermediary role in this.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengli Gao & Muddassar Sarfraz & Wasi Ul Hassan Shah, 2023. "The “Double-Edged Sword” Effect of Personal Relationships between Boundary Personnel on Enterprise Opportunistic Behavior in Cooperative Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4683-:d:1089223
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4683/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4683/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Yang & Deng, Ping & Wei, Jiang & Ying, Ying & Wu, Bing, 2021. "How to gain from international R&D alliances? A mutual dependence logic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 800-815.
    2. George Chondrakis & Mari Sako, 2020. "When suppliers shift my boundaries: Supplier employee mobility and its impact on buyer firms' sourcing strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9), pages 1682-1711, September.
    3. Luigino Bruni & Mario Gilli & Vittorio Pelligra, 2008. "Reciprocity: theory and facts," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 55(1), pages 1-11, April.
    4. Chenting Su & Zhilin Yang & Guijun Zhuang & Nan Zhou & Wenyu Dou, 2009. "Interpersonal influence as an alternative channel communication behavior in emerging markets: The case of China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(4), pages 668-689, May.
    5. Muddassar Sarfraz & Wang Qun & Li Hui & Muhammad Ibrahim Abdullah, 2018. "Environmental Risk Management Strategies and the Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Project Financing Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.
    6. Standifird, Stephen S. & Marshall, R. Scott, 2000. "The transaction cost advantage of guanxi-based business practices," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 21-42, April.
    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. Mi Zou & Peng Liu & Xuan Wu & Wei Zhou & Yuan Jin & Meiqi Xu, 2023. "Cognitive Characteristics of an Innovation Team and Collaborative Innovation Performance: The Mediating Role of Cooperative Behavior and the Moderating Role of Team Innovation Efficacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-23, July.

    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. Hualiang Lu & Shuyi Feng & Jacques H. Trienekens & S.W.F. Omta, 2012. "Network strength, transaction‐specific investments, inter‐personal trust, and relationship satisfaction in Chinese agri‐food SMEs," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(3), pages 363-378, August.
    2. Xue, Jinjie & Yuan, Hongping & Shi, Benshan, 2016. "Investigating partners' opportunistic behavior in joint ventures in China: The role of transaction costs and relational exchanges," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 6067-6078.
    3. Abosag, Ibrahim & Yen, Dorothy Ai-wan & Barnes, Bradley R. & Gadalla, Eman, 2021. "Rethinking guanxi and performance: Understanding the dark side of Sino–U.S. business relationships," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    4. Gao, Hongzhi & Knight, John G. & Yang, Zhilin & Ballantyne, David, 2014. "Toward a gatekeeping perspective of insider–outsider relationship development in China," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 312-320.
    5. Shaohan Cai & Minjoon Jun & Zhilin Yang, 2017. "The Effects of Boundary Spanners’ Personal Relationships on Interfirm Collaboration and Conflict: A Study of the Role of Guanxi in China," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 53(3), pages 19-40, July.
    6. Bickenbach, Frank & Dohse, Dirk & Liu, Wan-Hsin, 2014. "An inquiry into the determinants of graduate entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and Guangzhou (Mainland China)," Kiel Working Papers 1940, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Zhong Qin & Xin Deng, 2016. "Government and family Guanxi in Chinese private firms: perceptions and preference," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 35-60, January.
    8. G. Tomas M. Hult & Forrest V. Morgeson III & Udit Sharma & Claes Fornell, 2022. "Customer satisfaction and international business: A multidisciplinary review and avenues for research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(8), pages 1695-1733, October.
    9. Lu, Tingyu & Zhuang, Mengzhou & Zhuang, Guijun, 2021. "When does guanxi hurt interfirm cooperation? The moderating effects of institutional development and IT infrastructure capability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 177-186.
    10. Ramasamy, Bala & Goh, K.W. & Yeung, Matthew C.H., 2006. "Is Guanxi (relationship) a bridge to knowledge transfer?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 130-139, January.
    11. Marchegiani, Lucia & Reggiani, Tommaso G. & Rizzolli, Matteo, 2011. "How Unjust! An Experimental Investigation of Supervisors' Evaluation Errors and Agents' Incentives," IZA Discussion Papers 6254, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Jean-François Hennart & Dylan Sutherland, 2022. "International business research: The real challenges are data and theory," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(9), pages 2068-2087, December.
    13. Zhang, Zhikun & Zhang, Chuang & Shen, Lu, 2020. "Deterring dealer slackness: The role of supplier incentives and monitoring and the market environment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 353-363.
    14. Dong, Xueyan & Wang, Tienan, 2018. "Social tie formation in Chinese online social commerce: The role of IT affordances," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 49-64.
    15. Ilya R. P. Cuypers & Gokhan Ertug & John Cantwell & Akbar Zaheer & Martin Kilduff, 2020. "Making connections: Social networks in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(5), pages 714-736, July.
    16. Li, Yanlin & Tian, Gary Gang & Wang, Xin, 2021. "The effect of Guanxi culture on the voting of independent directors: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    17. Hao, Jinghui & Bijman, Jos & Gardebroek, Cornelis & Heerink, Nico & Heijman, Wim & Huo, Xuexi, 2018. "Cooperative membership and farmers’ choice of marketing channels – Evidence from apple farmers in Shaanxi and Shandong Provinces, China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 53-64.
    18. Ciravegna, Luciano & Majano, Sara B. & Zhan, Ge, 2014. "The inception of internationalization of small and medium enterprises: The role of activeness and networks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 1081-1089.
    19. M. Isabel Sánchez-Hernández & Juan José Maldonado-Briegas, 2019. "Sustainable Entrepreneurial Culture Programs Promoting Social Responsibility: A European Regional Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-19, July.
    20. Waqas Ali & Shujahat Ali & Shahid Mehmood, 2020. "Effect of Risk Management Practices on Banks Performance Moderating Role of Managerial Expertise as a Competitive Edge," IBT Journal of Business Studies (JBS), Ilma University, Faculty of Management Science, vol. 16(1), pages 88-100.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4683-:d:1089223. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.