Opportunism risk in service triads – a social capital perspective

The authors aim to conceptually show how social capital between service buyer and partner firm in a service triad impacts the service buyer's opportunism risk regarding the service provider's behavior.

The authors draw on social capital theory to conceptually derive propositions on the role of social capital with regard to the antecedents of opportunism in service triads.

Based on literature, the authors show how social capital between service buyer and partner firm decreases the service buyer's opportunism risk regarding the provider's behavior. Structural capital enhances information flows, thus reducing ambiguity. Relational capital reduces ambiguity as well as the service buyer' dependence. Cognitive capital enhances the mitigating effect of relational norms.

The authors extend the conceptual perspective on social capital and opportunism risk to triadic environments. Besides empirical validation, a resulting research program could follow three avenues: interdependencies between other relationships in service triads, the impact of social capital on effects other than opportunism as well as the role of relationships between individual boundary-spanners.

When deciding upon service outsourcing in triads, service buyers should assess their resulting opportunism risk, considering not only the service provider but also their relationship to the partner firm.

The propositions entail a shift from a dyadic to a triadic perspective. Analyzing the established dyadic concepts of social capital and opportunism in a triadic environment, the authors contribute to theory on triads as the simplest building blocks of networks.