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How Managers Respond to Paradoxical Control‐Trust Dynamics in Interorganizational Relationships over Time: A Constitutive Approach
Author(s) -
Vedel Jane Bjørn,
Geraldi Joana
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
journal of management studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.398
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1467-6486
pISSN - 0022-2380
DOI - 10.1111/joms.12846
Subject(s) - complementarity (molecular biology) , dynamics (music) , control (management) , balance (ability) , corporate governance , public relations , business , sociology , psychology , management , political science , economics , pedagogy , genetics , neuroscience , biology
Control‐trust dynamics are fundamental to organizational life, but managers struggle to balance them because these dynamics draw on opposing mechanisms. Past research has mainly assumed that substitution and complementarity constitute key control‐trust dynamics, which has limited scholars' understanding of why these dynamics are difficult to balance and how managers deal with them over time. We explore managers' responses to paradoxical control‐trust dynamics. We conducted a longitudinal case study of how managers in a pharmaceutical company dealt with these dynamics in an interorganizational relationship with a university and a biotech firm. Our findings show (a) a new category of response to control‐trust dynamics beyond substitution and complementarity (the More‐Than), (b) three new enacted responses beyond balancing (paradoxical thinking, fulfilling promises, and transcending), and (c) a governance path that managers' responses evolve over time. Our findings suggest that managers' responses to paradoxical control‐trust dynamics ensure the performance and endurance of interorganizational relationships.