The influence of current firm performance on future SME alliance formation intentions: A six-country study

Although research has implicitly assumed small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employ alliances to improve performance, few studies have directly investigated how and when current performance levels might prompt firms to cooperate. Based on disparate predictions of the behavioral theory of the f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business research 2006, Vol.59 (1), p.19-27
Main Authors: Lohrke, Franz T., Kreiser, Patrick M., Weaver, K. Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alliances
Australia
Behavioral theory of the firm
Business partnership
Business studies
Cross-national analysis
Economic behaviour
Economic networks
Empirical tests
Firm theory
Greece
Hypotheses
Indonesia
Manycountries
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
Organizational behavior
Performance satisfaction
Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
Small and medium sized enterprises
Studies
Threat rigidity
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Summary:Although research has implicitly assumed small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employ alliances to improve performance, few studies have directly investigated how and when current performance levels might prompt firms to cooperate. Based on disparate predictions of the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF) and threat rigidity thesis, we developed competing hypotheses regarding the impact of performance dissatisfaction on future alliance intentions for firms with and without previous alliance experience. Employing a dataset of 657 SMEs from six countries, results indicate that for firms with alliance experience, increasing managerial dissatisfaction with current performance decreased intentions to employ future alliances, thus supporting the BTOF thesis. Overall, these results highlight the importance that current performance satisfaction plays in influencing future alliance formation intentions.
ISSN:0148-2963
1873-7978
DOI:10.1016/j.jbusres.2005.02.002