A CAPABILITY OF ENDING RELATIONSHIPS – THE CHANGES ACROSS THE LIFE CYCLE OF A RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

This paper investigates if the capability of ending inter-organizational relationships increases when the relationship evolves over subsequent phases of its life cycle.First, we outline the literature-based operationalization of five phases of the interorganizational relationships’ life cycle: initial, development, maintenance, dormant/end, and reactivation. Second, based on a study of 800 relationships of software developers operating in Poland, we present how the three facets of the capability of ending relationships (i.e., general procedures to end non-desirable cooperation, formal regulations dedicated to end specific cooperation; rules of passing out a deficient partner) change when the relationship goes through the subsequent phases of the life cycle. Our findings provide evidence for the dominance of inter-organizational relationships in a maintenance phase, quite intensive exploitation of re-activated inter-organizational relationships (approx. 10% of relationships), slight and not significant differences in the levels of capability of ending the relationship in subsequent phases of the inter-organizational relationships’ life cycle.

Keywords: IOR, relational capability, relationship termination, cooperation, relationship development

JEL classification codes: L14, L2, C71