Seeking Outside Help: The Role of Third-Party Intervention in Strategic Alliance Relational Recovery

Prior alliance research has shown the inherent complexity and instability of alliances, and identified a key driver of such instability in that alliance relationships are frequently met with negative relational dynamics – characterized by competition and distrust. As such, alliance literature has studied solutions that alliance partners employ for relational recovery. In doing so, extant literature has focused on recovery solutions predominantly internally, i.e., within the boundaries of the alliance, despite the recognition that third parties can play an important and constructive role in facilitating alliance relationships. To explore the role of third-party interventions, we conduct an inductive case study of a dyadic alliance between two organizations in the Dutch fin-tech industry, that saw an intervention by an independent third party. We identify redirection of attention as a novel mechanism to understand how third-party interventions can facilitate relational recovery. Specifically, our study highlights that attention redirection toward the overarching goals of the alliance facilitates the repair and continuation of the alliance, provided that partners confirm complementarity (in skills and resources) and compatibility (in culture).