Science Research Management ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5): 104-112.

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Research on the relationship between inter-organizational trust and cooperative innovation performance under uncertain environment

Ruan Hongpeng1,2, Chi Renyong1, Zhang Jun3   

  1. 1. China Institute for Small and Medium Enterprise, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, Zhejiang, China;
    2. College of Information Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, Zhejiang, China; 
    3. School of Business, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan 243032, Anhui, China
  • Received:2022-02-10 Revised:2022-03-15 Online:2022-05-20 Published:2022-05-20

Abstract:     The turbulent trade environment makes it difficult for enterprises to maintain sustainable development. It has become one of the most effective ways for enterprises to build a cooperative network and work together to overcome difficulties in an uncertain environment. At the same time, the trust models among different organizations under the cooperative network will directly affect the ability of enterprises to access the network resources. Hence, how to give full play to the advantage of inter-organizational trust in the process of cooperative innovation is particularly important. Besides, the highly turbulent environment makes enterprises must adjust their trust decisions in combination with the external environment in the context of cooperative diversification. Therefore, it is very important to study the impact mechanism of inter organizational trust on cooperative innovation performance in an uncertain environment.
    Existing studies mostly analyze the positive effects of inter-organizational trust, but rarely discuss the negative effects, and few studies integrate the two effects. However, there are differences in the influence mechanisms of inter-organizational trust based on different core logic on enterprise cooperative innovation performance, so it is necessary to integrate the two mechanisms. At the same time, the uncertain environment impels enterprises to develop towards the cooperative innovation model, so it is necessary to analyze the cooperative innovation of enterprises in the uncertain environment. However, the existing researches mostly analyze the enterprise innovation in the uncertain environment from the perspective of market and other external environment, ignoring the enterprise innovation in the uncertain environment of market object and behavior subject. Therefore, it cannot provide theoretical guidance for enterprises′ trust decision-making in multiple uncertain environments.
    In order to bridge the theoretical gap above, this paper will integrate calculative trust and relational trust under inter-organizational trust into the same research framework according to the "rational-perceptual" analysis framework, explore the differential impact mechanism of the two on enterprise cooperative innovation performance. Considering the double-edged sword effect of inter-organizational trust, this paper enriches the theoretical research of inter organizational trust in enterprise cooperation network. Furthermore, according to the framework of "market object—behavior subject", this paper further analyzes the action mechanism of the dual uncertain environment on this difference, expands the research on enterprise cooperative innovation in the uncertain environment, and provides theoretical guidance for enterprises to make inter organizational trust strategic decision in the uncertain environment.
    The results show that, firstly, the impact of inter-organizational calculative trust and inter-organizational relational trust on inter-firm cooperative innovation performance is different. Within a reasonable range, the improvement effect of inter-organizational relationship trust on cooperative innovation performance is greater than that of calculative trust, but once relationship trust is too high, it may lead to opportunistic behavior and relationship lock caused by excessive emotion due to reduced supervision, leading to the decline of cooperative innovation performance.
    Secondly, in the uncertain market environment, inter-organizational relationship trust can play a greater role, but we need to be careful to control it within a reasonable range. This is because inter-organizational calculative trust is difficult to play a forward-looking role in market uncertainty, leading to the decline of inter-enterprise cooperative innovation performance. At the same time, when inter-organizational trust is in a reasonable range, market uncertainty increases the demand for relationship trust in inter-organizational cooperation, enhances the belief of cooperation between both parties, and then improves inter-organizational cooperative innovation performance. This conclusion further verifies the relevant conclusion that inter-organizational cooperation can resist the negative effects brought by external environment fluctuations.
     Thirdly, in the context of behavioral uncertainty, inter-organizational calculative trust plays a greater role than relational trust. This is because the calculation and incentive mechanism of inter-organizational calculative trust can play a greater role in the context of behavioral uncertainty. However, inter-organizational trust may have complex additive effects on behavior uncertainty.
    Finally, the classification of inter-organizational trust according to the framework of "rational computing-affective relationship" and the classification of uncertain environment according to the framework of "market object-behavior subject" has theoretical and practical significance. Different types of environmental uncertainty have different moderating effects on the relationship between trust and cooperative innovation performance among different organizations, which provides valuable practical guidance and theoretical inspiration for enterprise managers to choose trust strategies to improve inter-organizational cooperative innovation performance under different uncertain environments in the supply chain cooperative network.

Key words: uncertainty environment, inter-organizational trust, cooperative innovation performance