Productivity and participation values for cooperative goals to limit free riding and promote performance in international joint ventures

This study holds that the development of cooperative goals instead of competitive goals among joint venture partners helps to limit free riding and promote performance in IJVs. The results collected from 75 pairs of Chinese and foreign joint venture partners suggest that productivity and participation values strengthen the partners' beliefs that their goals are cooperatively related, which in turn, reduces free riding and promotes performance, whereas competitive goals promote free riding and obstruct joint performance. The paper also suggests how cooperation and competition research can complement established theoretical frameworks on the conditions and dynamics that result in IJV productivity.