Paradoxes and Tensions in Interorganizational Relationships: A Systematic Literature Review

Marcos Vinícius Bitencourt Fortes (), Lara Agostini, Douglas Wegner and Anna Nosella
Additional contact information
Marcos Vinícius Bitencourt Fortes: Business School, Unisinos University, Porto Alegre 91330-002, RS, Brazil
Lara Agostini: Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
Douglas Wegner: Business School, FDC|Fundação Dom Cabral, Nova Lima 34018-006, MG, Brazil
Anna Nosella: Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy

JRFM, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: This paper examines the literature on paradoxes and tensions in interorganizational relationships (IORs) and identifies how such tensions are managed in interorganizational settings. In a systematic literature review, we analyzed 95 papers published between 1997 and 2021 on the subject of paradoxes in IORs. The sample showed a variety of paradoxes occurring in different interorganizational contexts, such as knowledge sharing and protection, short- and long-term orientation, and exploration and exploitation. The diversity of such paradoxes has led to crescent interest in cooperation. Our main results show that contextual factors and management practices influence the balance between paradoxes. Although the particular context of each IOR may be unique in terms of balancing paradoxical elements, we identified a set of “pre-tension practices” and “post-tension practices” which may help avoid the emergence of tensions or reduce their adverse effects. The findings of our systematic literature review have also enabled us to propose future research avenues concerning managing tensions in IORs, for instance, the link between paradoxes and IOR performance.

Keywords: paradox; tension; interorganizational relationship; tension management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C E F2 F3 G (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/1/35/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/1/35/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:35-:d:1026036

Access Statistics for this article

JRFM is currently edited by Ms. Chelthy Cheng

More articles in JRFM from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().