Interconnectedness of actor bonds in service triads - a social capital perspective

Inter-firm networks are becoming increasingly important, as firms are influenced by their direct relationships and the networks surrounding them. Our study contributes to the understanding of interconnectedness among business relationships, as we analyze how different dyadic relationships in a firm's network can impact each other. More specifically, we draw on three case studies to describe how social capital between the service buyer and its partner in a service triad is impacted by the other two dyadic relationships in the triad. Besides broadening the theoretic perspective on interconnectedness, we contribute to social capital research and extend the limited theory base on service triads. From a managerial point of view, our work provides a new perspective on managing service outsourcing transactions.