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Although previous research provides a foundation for developing, maintaining, and exiting relationships, the extant literature has yet to consider the influence that patterns of economic and social forces have in guiding the future of deteriorating relationships. To understand better and respond to relationships in decline and to salvage relationships that are destined to fail needlessly, the authors use the political economic paradigm to identify symptoms of deteriorating relationships and provide a framework for combining relational forces that best guides relationship retention decisions. They propose a model based on the theoretical foundations of transactional cost analysis (TCA), social exchange, and distributive justice. Using relative dependence, interdependence, and mutual dependence to define the economic and social worth of the relationship, they incorporate dyadic patterns of behavior to illustrate similar and different interpretations and evaluations of fairness and the impact on relational outcomes. The article culminates with managerial implications and directions for future research.
If physicians never monitored the vital signs of diseased patients or social workers failed to identify symptoms of molestation, would not these professionals be partially responsible for premature deaths and physical abuse? Similarly, if we as investigators of relationships fail to monitor degenerating relationships and identify symptoms of pathological exchanges, then would not we as interorganizational researchers be partially responsible for premature and/or excessive business relationship termination?
A cursory review of the popular business press and an investigation of academic research reveal the prevalence of struggling business relationships, signaling the need to further understand factors contributing to relationship decline and termination. Realizing the importance of relationship retention decisions from both a theoretical and managerial perspective, interorganizational researchers have begun focusing on the impact of relational shifts, modifications, and transformations on the development and maintenance of relationships. Few studies, however, address relationships in decline or their disposition toward failure (Zajac and Olsen 1993; see Ping 1993, 1997 for exceptions). Building on the works of others, we focus on this unexplored area and propose a foundation for identifying symptoms of deteriorating relationships and provide a framework for combining relational forces and guiding relationship retention decisions. Framed within the political economy paradigm, our inquiry emphasizes the importance of transactional cost analysis (TCA), social exchange, and distributive justice, in laying the theoretical foundation for understanding the transition...