Personal ties, reciprocity, competitive intensity, and performance of the strategic alliances in Taiwan's travel industry

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the roles of reciprocity and competitive intensity for the relationship of personal ties and performance of the horizontal strategic alliances occurring in Taiwan's travel industry. Senior executives of tour companies that were located in Taipei and participating in horizontal strategic alliances were invited to participate in this study. Data were collected by structural questionnaire and structural equation model was employed to examine our hypotheses. The results indicate that reciprocity mediates the relationship between personal ties and performance, as well as the competitive intensity moderates this relationship. Personal ties affect the performance of a horizontal strategic alliance positively in the condition of low competition, but they become insignificant when competition is high. Some managerial implications are proposed for managers of tour companies and small firms. This study has made a noteworthy contribution by introducing a moderating measure of competitive intensity. With the introduction of competitive intensity in this study, a better explanation of the relationship of personal ties and performance can be achieved.