Antecedents and Consequences of Trust in Strategic Alliances

In this paper we present a framework for the antecedents and consequences of trust in strategic alliances. Through a qualitative research methodology utilising semi-structured interviews with 18 organisations (5 of those being international), we investigate trust in strategic alliances using the theoretical perspective of social exchange theory. We find that network relationships, type of alliance, communication, information exchange, fairness preservation and inter-firm adaptation have implications for trust in strategic alliances. Trust is an important factor for the success of a strategic alliance, because the presence of trust facilitates the obtainment of goals in conjunction with rules of conduct, and mechanisms for enforcing those rules.