Parts of Me—Relational Risks and Possible Outcomes When Sharing the Decision to Have a Breast Augmentation: A Study of a Swedish Online Forum

A female body part that gains much attention is breasts, and globally, the image of women’s breasts is a “perfect breast.” In order to attain this “perfection,” and for personal reasons, women can decide to augment their breasts by surgery. Despite the cosmetic industry’s increasing popularity, sharing this decision with family and friends can be associated with doubts and worries. This study aims to identify anticipated outcomes when telling close persons about the surgery. Analysis of posts on a Swedish online forum suggests that anticipated reactions include hopes of being accepted and fears of being viewed differently. Aligning with Cooleys “looking-glass self,” it is argued that women see themselves through the imagined eyes of others, and judgment creates feelings of either pride or shame. Breast augmentation seems to be associated with double oppression: first, from surrounding ideals about the perfect breast, and second, from associated shame manifested in social relationships.

The moderating effect of network power on relational risks and knowledge flow in R&D network

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of two dimensions of relational risks, namely, opportunism behavior and interest conflict, on knowledge flow and to explore the moderating effect of network power among these untested relationships and to examine the positive effect of opportunism behavior and interest conflict.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts survey data collected from 180 enterprises in China's high-technology industry and examines the relationship between relational risks, network power and knowledge flow.FindingsThis research empirically shows that opportunism behavior and interest conflict significantly and negatively impact on knowledge flow. Those relationships are positively moderated by network power.Research limitations/implicationsTo be more generalized to the high-technology industry, future research should adopt the quantitative research, which can obtain more comprehensive information to explore the nature of phenomenon. The future research can also combine with other variables. In addition, this research extends the current literature by investigating the relationship of so far understudied theorized antecedents.Originality/valueThis research enriches the related network perspective literature by providing new insight combining relational risks and knowledge flow. Especially, the moderating effect of network power is empirically examined.

How to Choose the Right Partners in Cross-Sector Partnership in Emerging Countries? A Political Embeddedness Perspective

In emerging countries such as China where the government is gradually withdrawing from involvement in social affairs, firms face dilemmas around relational risks of partnering with different forms of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Affiliated NGOs (those with close relationships with government) are more likely to sabotage the social partnership through misconduct, and are also capable of higher standards of collaborative social performance compared with independent NGOs (those with few such relationships). This study proposes that firms’ political embeddedness helps mitigate relational risks in cross-sector partner selection, and finds that politically connected firms are more likely to partner with affiliated NGOs than with independent NGOs in China. This effect is more pronounced for private firms that are less socially oriented or are located in regions with less-developed formal institutions and social trust. Our findings highlight relational risks relevant to cross-sector partner selection literature and offer important insights into how relational risks can be reduced in cross-sector partner selection in emerging countries.

Trust and R&D investments: evidence from OECD countries

This paper examines two potential mechanisms – access to credit and reduction in relational risks – through which social trust can affect R&D investments. Social trust can increase R&D investments by expanding firms' access to external finance with which they can use to fund promising R&D projects. It can also increase R&D investments by reducing relational risks that expose firms to ex-ante and ex-post holdups or expropriation risks. Using industry-level data on R&D investment intensities in 20 OECD countries, I test these mechanisms by evaluating whether more external finance dependent and relational risk vulnerable industries exhibit disproportional higher R&D investment intensities in trust intensive countries. The results indicate that external finance dependent industries and relational risks vulnerable industries experience relatively higher R&D investment intensities in trust-intensive countries. Therefore, the results underline access to external finance and reduction in relational risks as causal pathways linking social trust and R&D investments.

Antecedents of collaboration and drivers of relational risk in public safety networks

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the inter-related impact of the antecedents of collaboration on the emergence of relational risk and the impact of relational risk on the effectiveness of collaboration in public safety networks (PSNs). Design/methodology/approach The research is based on desk research and a survey questionnaire. The analysis of the results was based on the modelling of structural equations. Findings The analyses indicate how the antecedents of collaboration influence relational risk in PSNs and the extent to which this risk, in turn, may affect the overall effectiveness of collaboration in the networks studied. The findings identify the antecedents that have the greatest impact on the emergence of relational risks, the drivers of relational risk in PSNs and the impact of the drivers of relational risk on collaboration in the networks. Originality/value The study of relational risk is rarely undertaken with little literature or research in the field of public safety. The added value is the identification of the causes of the relational risk among the antecedents of collaboration in PSNs and the analysis of the impact of this risk on the effectiveness of inter-organisational collaboration.

Governance Mechanism of Relational Risks in Supply Chain

This paper aims to discuss the relational risks in supply chain and its governance mechanism, including formal and informal control mechanisms and trust development mechanisms, to provide a new idea of relational risks management in supply chain domains and then enhance the interests of all involved parties. The governance efficiency of relational risks in supply chain can be improved by control mechanisms associated with trust development mechanisms, and both of which are dynamic complementary. Initial trust among partners impacts the inter-organizational relational performance and the choice of control mechanisms, at the same time, the outcomes of relationship and the development or destruction of trust mechanisms are affected by control modes.