Contract Violations in Interorganizational Relationships. Drivers, Perceptions and Reactions

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Review of Business Studies, grade: 1,0, Free University of Berlin (Wirtschaftswissenschaften), language: English, abstract: The objective of this thesis is to show an overview of existing literature about contract violations and trust. The goal is to combine research on different aspects and reveal differences. Lastly, this thesis aims to develop a framework showing the whole process of contract violations and to establish propositions showing the causes and reasoning behind drivers, perceptions and reactions of contract violations.

In the last decades, challenges of globalization like globalized competition, rapid technological change, shorter product life circles and the rising demand of differentiated products by customers have made it difficult for organizations to stay competitive. As a result, cooperation between companies is increasing, because cooperation allows organizations to better focus on their core competencies while staying competitive at the same time. Therefore, the management of business relationships is of growing importance. In fact, the ability to develop and maintain strategic interorganizational relationships has become a critical competence in the last years. A major method to manage such relationships is through contracting. Contracts govern economic exchanges and help to align the expectations of partners involved in the relationship.