The relationship between transaction costs, resource dependency, social networks, partnerships, and organizational performance in the industrial waste management industry

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effects of the relationships between partnerships and trust relationships, partnerships and resource dependency, and partnerships and transaction costs on organizational performance. A survey in the form of a questionnaire was conducted among legitimate private and public waste treatment and disposal organizations (including domestic and foreign organizations) in the six special municipalities of Taiwan. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed, and 550 questionnaires were ultimately returned. Among those, an effective sample of 539 questionnaires was collected, for an effective recovery rate of 98%. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The results showed significant positive effects from resource dependency on transaction costs, from relational trust on institutional trust, from relational trust on resource dependency, from relational trust on partnerships, and from partnerships on organizational performance. Transactional costs, resource dependency, and institutional trust were found to have negative but insignificant effects on partnership. These results can provide industrial waste management organizations with a reference for decision-making related to the management of partnerships and organizational performance.