Blind Men, Elephants, and Strategic Alliance Social Dilemmas: Evidence of Value Asymmetry Comparing Professional Purchasing Managers and Master Business Students

16 Pages Posted: 1 Jul 2012

See all articles by Matthew W. McCarter

Matthew W. McCarter

University of Texas at San Antonio; Chapman University - The George L. Argyros College of Business and Economics

Stanley Fawcett

Independent

Date Written: June 15, 2012

Abstract

Burgeoning interest in the social dilemma paradigm by strategic management and operations management scholars has led to two research questions: First, is cooperative strategies used by alliance partners perceived as social dilemmas? Second, if cooperative strategies are perceived as social dilemmas, is this perception robust as a function of work experience? We examine whether senior executives and business master students experience value symmetry in strategic alliance social dilemmas. Each sample was asked to assess the costs and benefits to the individual partner and the alliance when pooling nine resources common in strategic alliances. Results indicate value asymmetry between professionals and students: students perceive that sharing all nine resources have the properties of a social dilemma; while professionals perceive four of the nine resources as such. Implications for the applying the social dilemma paradigm to strategic alliance management and, more generally, behavioral strategy are discussed.

Suggested Citation

McCarter, Matthew W. and Fawcett, Stanley, Blind Men, Elephants, and Strategic Alliance Social Dilemmas: Evidence of Value Asymmetry Comparing Professional Purchasing Managers and Master Business Students (June 15, 2012). Intl. Association for Conflict Management, IACM 25th Annual Conference, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2084840 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2084840

Matthew W. McCarter (Contact Author)

University of Texas at San Antonio ( email )

One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
United States

Chapman University - The George L. Argyros College of Business and Economics ( email )

1 University Drive
Orange, CA 92866
United States

Stanley Fawcett

Independent ( email )

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