Tópicos (19)

Um tema deveras fascinante: a outra face - a face negra - da relações que nisto de relacionamentos nem tudo é cor-de-rosa. Trata-se de um número especial do Industrial Marketing Management cujo prazo de submissão termina nos próximos dias. The Dark Side of Business Relationships: Antecedents and Consequences, apropriadamente.

«[...] Much of the previous research in the field of relationship management has tended to focus mainly on positive relationship constructs i.e., trust, commitment, cooperation, and coordination etc. in order to examine how these can enhance business performance. In contrast, the limited literature which focuses on the dark side of relationships appears to take two different approaches. The first group of studies reported on negative relationship constructs such as conflict and opportunism which caught the attention of researchers in the early 1980s (Gaski, 1984; John, 1984). Over time, contributions from studies on this area have almost predominantly focused on conflict in relation to other areas such as value co-creation, cooperation, dependence and competitiveness (Meunier-FitzHug, Massey and Piercy, 2011; Mele, 2011; Zhou, Zhuang and Yip, 2007). Despite the modest increase in understanding business conflict (Skarmeas, 2006; Massey and Dawes, 2007; Finch, Zhang and Geiger, 2013), the conceptual and empirical examination of uncertainty, opportunism and tension has continued to remain somewhat neglected. The second group of studies appears to be more focused on the dark or negative side of relationships, with specific reference to the development of relationships over time. Moorman, Zaltman and Deshpande (1992) for example, were among the first to claim there is a dark side of long-term relationships that dampen the positive influence of relational constructs like trust. While the findings of Moorman et al. (1992) were later confirmed by Grayson and Ambler (1999), Barnes (2005) discovered in a dyadic context, that some negativity is more likely to occur in mid-term rather than long-term relationships, as some degree of complacency creeps in to such relationships. Research examining the dark side of relationships is scant and very little has been concluded on how such effects can influence future relationship dynamics. The dark side of relationships do not only exist at the organizational level between firms, some studies also point out the significance of studying the dark side of personal relationships amongst managers of established networks or between different personnel i.e., sales and marketing, marketing and production, marketing and finance etc (Gu, 2008; Villena, Revilla, and Choi, 2011). Against this backdrop, the special issue solicits articles that advance our understanding of the dark side of business relationships, looking especially at the management of uncertainty, opportunism and tension etc. This special issue is designed with a view to widening the frontiers regarding the negative aspects of business relationships and we welcome papers discussing the dark side of relationships from both organizational and interpersonal levels i.e., between channel members, buyers and suppliers, clients and service providers, as well as their greater potential network implications. The chosen papers will provide substantial advancement to existing theories and frameworks, and importantly, advance conceptualizations and perspectives on the real problems underlying these phenomena. The following is an illustrative list of themes and questions that contributors may consider: How the dark side of relationships influence the bright sides? Comparisons between the dark and the bright sides of business relationships; A comprehensive review of the dark side variables and their causes; Measurement of dark side business relationships; Concerns, issues and challenges faced by businesses in managing the dark side of relationships; Regulatory, social and ethical challenges faced by the dark side of relationships; How the dark side of personal relationships between key actors influence business relationships between and/or amongst organizations; To what extent the dark sides of relationships impact performance, value co-creation and competitiveness? When and how relationships start deteriorating, from a longitudinal perspective?

References:
Anderson, E. and Jap, S. D. (2005). “The dark side of close relationships,” MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(3), 75-82.
Barnes, B. R. (2005) “Is the Seven-Year Hitch Premature in Industrial Markets,” European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39, Issue 5/6, pp. 560-581.
Fang, S., Chang, Y., Peng, Y. (2011). “Dark side of relationships: A tensions-based view,” Industrial Marketing Management, 40(5), 774-784.
Finch, J., Zhang, S. and Geiger, S. (2013). “Managing in conflict: How actors distribute conflict in an industrial network,” Industrial Marketing Management, available since 16 Aug. 2013.
Gaski, J. (1984). “The theory of power and conflict in channels of distribution,” Journal of Marketing, 48(3), 9-29.
Grayson, K. and Ambler, T. (1999), “The Dark Side of Long-Term Relationships in Marketing Services”, Journal of Marketing Research, Chicago, February, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 132-141.
Gu, F. F., Hung, K., & Tse, D. K. (2008). “When does Guanxi matter? Issues of capitalization and its dark sides,” Journal of Marketing, 72(4), 12-28.
John, G. (1984). “An empirical investigation of some antecedents of opportunism in a marketing channel,” Journal of Marketing Research, 21(3), 278-289.
Massey, G. and Dawes, P. (2007). “The antecedents and consequence of functional and dysfunctional conflict between marketing managers and sales managers,” Industrial Marketing Management, 36(8), 1118-1128.
Mele, C. (2011). “Conflict and value co-creation in project networks,” Industrial Marketing Management, 40(8), 1377-1385.
Meunier-FitzHug, K., Massey, G. and Piercy, N. (2011). The impact of aligned rewards and senior manager attitudes on conflict and collaboration between sales and marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, 40(7), 1161-1171.
Moorman, C., Zaltman, G. and Deshpande, R. (1992), “Relationships Between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust Within and Between Organizations”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol.XXIX, August, pp. 314-328.
Skarmeas, D. (2006). “The role of functional conflict in international buyer–seller relationships: Implications for industrial exporters,” Industrial Marketing Management, 35(5), 567-575.
Villena, V. and Revilla, E. and Choi, T. (2011). “The dark side of buyer-supplier relationships: A social capital perspective,” Journal of Operations Management, 29(6), 561-576.
Zhou, N., Zhuang, G. and Yip, L. (2007). “Perceptual difference of dependence and its impact on conflict in marketing channels in China: An empirical study with two-sided data,” Industrial Marketing Management, 36(3), 309-321.»

Tópicos, sugestões de investigação nas áreas de interesse do editor deste blogue.