Drivers and Barriers of Partner Switch in Interfirm Alliances

Typically literature on interfirm alliances assumesthat when alliances terminate they failed. Even though this is often the case,recent research in this field shows that firms also withdraw from alliances forstrategic reasons. One reason might be that the firms found options with highermatch quality than the current partner, and thus switch their alliance partner.This paper investigates the drivers and barriers of partner switch in interorganizationalrelationships. We build on priorresearch on partner switch behavior and outcomes and extend it in several waysby literature on alliance formation, termination and dynamics. The maincontribution of our paper compared to previous work in that field is a morecomprehensive conceptual model of antecedents to partner switch that particularlyhighlights the importance of switching barriers.