Do formal contracts and relational governance function as substitutes or complements?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Poppo, L; Zenger, T
• 署名单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; Washington University (WUSTL)
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.249
• 发表日期: 2002
• 页码: 707-725
• 关键词: Outsourcing; trust; TRANSACTION COST ECONOMICS; IT; CONTRACTS; RELATIONAL GOVERNANCE

摘要

Relational exchange arrangements supported by trust are commonly viewed as substitutes for complex contracts in interorganizational exchanges. Many argue that formal contracts actually undermine trust and thereby encourage the opportunistic behavior they art designed to discourage. In this paper, we develop and test an alternative perspective: that formal contracts and relational governance function as complements. Using data from a sample of information service exchanges, we find empirical support for this proposition of complementarity. Managers appear to couple their increasingly customized contracts with high levels of relational governance (and vice versa). Moreover, this interdependence underlies their ability to generate improvements in exchange performance. Our results concerning the determinants of these governance choices show their distinct origins, which further augments their complementarity in practice. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.