Common learning and opportunistic behaviour in learning alliances

In this paper, we propose a system dynamics model that gives deeper insight into the dynamics involved in opportunistic behaviour in learning alliances. Although current research widely recognizes opportunistic behaviour of alliance partners as a reason for alliance failure, most research in this field focuses on opportunism in the area of private learning and of outlearning the partner. Opportunism is mostly ignored in situations of common learning. In the following, we study opportunism in alliances where there is no intention of learning privately. Moreover, in current studies, feedback perspectives are often neglected. A feedback perspective can be helpful to explain the reasons for certain unanticipated long‐term effects. We transfer findings from recent learning alliance literature and from a case study to a system dynamics simulation model. After describing the model structure, different scenarios offer insights into the dynamics of learning, particularly when the partners have different intentions with regard to common learning. We discuss the model runs and subsequently deduce propositions for future research. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.