[Research Seminar] ICIE: “Machiavellianism in alliance partnerships: The construct, its functioning, and its performance effects” C. KATSIKEAS – Leeds University

Speaker: Costas KATSIKEAS
Leeds University Business School

coauthor: A. ZIFF – Research Chair and Professor of Marketing and International Management

Date and Location – Thursday June 16th 2022 from 10:30 to 12:00
in B252 (Lille campus), P400 (Paris campus) and on Zoom

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ABSTRACT

Against a backdrop of limited research focusing on dark-side characteristics in alliances, we argue that Machiavellianism in the alliance influences strategies pertaining to learning new knowledge and using power to achieve better performance effectiveness. We develop a model using theories-in-use procedures and drawing from both Machiavellian intelligence and achievement goal perspectives, which we test in a quasi-longitudinal study of 199 marketing alliances. The results suggest that Machiavellianism relates negatively to collaborative learning and positively to learning anxiety and use of power. The findings also indicate that collaborative learning enhances performance while learning anxiety and use of power result in underperformance. Collaborative learning, learning anxiety, and use of power fully mediate Machiavellianism’s impact on performance. Finally, Machiavellianism’s relationships with collaborative learning and learning anxiety are moderated positively and negatively, respectively, by partners’ collaborative history. This evidence provides managers with a more in-depth understanding about the nature, functioning, and performance relevance of Machiavellianism in alliance partnerships.