Collaborative Innovation or Opportunistic Behavior? Evidence from the Relational Governance of Tourism Enterprises

Relational norms are often used to govern interfirm relationships. However, an emerging stream of work has identified their potential “dark sides.” This study examines why and when the benefits or drawbacks occur. Based on a survey of tourism enterprises in China, an integrative model composed of relational norms, commitment, relationship performance (including collaborative innovation and opportunistic behavior), and substitutability is confirmed. The results show that the effectiveness of relational norms depends on the partner’s commitment types and the contexts in which those norms are embedded. Although relational norms promote collaborative innovation through both the calculative and affective commitment, they are likely to foster the partner’s opportunistic behavior through calculative commitment. The substitutability of a tourism enterprise is found to influence the strength of the relationships between relational norms and the two types of commitment. These findings offer important implications for tourism businesses.