The Relational View of Economics : A New Research Agenda for the Study of Relational Transactions

This book contributes to the development of a relational view of economics. Bringing together experts from various disciplines, it offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the study of relational transactions. In contrast to discrete market transactions as a traditional subject of economic discourse, the book analyses the role of relational transactions in the study of economic phenomena. The contributing authors address topics such as global intra- and inter-company networks, intersectoral stakeholder management, relational contracts, and transcultural management approaches. Accordingly, the book makes an important contribution to an emerging field of research. Contents 6 Editors and Contributors 8 Part I Introduction 11 Preface 12 Manifesto for a Relational Economics 17 1 Societal Change and Economic Theory 17 2 The Case for Relational Economics 18 3 Defining the Research Agenda 19 Part II Economic Theory and Relational Method 22 Relational Economics: Theoretical Framework and Managerial Implications—A Short Introduction 23 1 The Relational Economy as a Self-unfolding Process 23 1.1 Phenomena and Theories 23 1.2 Processes and Experience 25 2 The Relatedness of Relational Transactions 26 2.1 Exchanges and Transactions 26 2.2 Exchange Transactions and Relational Transactions 28 3 The Governance of Self-unfolding Processes 30 3.1 Governance and Process 30 3.2 Interaction and Functional Equivalence 31 3.3 Case Study: Pattern and Structure Formation 33 4 The Cooperation Corridor and Relational Rent 35 4.1 Cooperation-Economic Opportunities and Organization 35 4.2 Triggers and Other Effects 40 4.3 Relational Costs and Shared Value Creation 42 5 Closing Remarks 44 References 45 Why We Could Need a Relational Economics and Why Standard Economics and Its (Orthodox) Derivations Do not Help 48 1 Introduction 48 2 Part I: Building Blocks 51 2.1 The Complexity Turn in Social Sciences 52 2.2 Five Research Streams in Economics, Sociology, and Organization Science 55 3 Part II: What RE Should Not Be 60 3.1 The Inadequateness of Standard Economics 61 3.2 Transaction Cost Economics 65 3.3 A View at Some Theoretical Fragments 68 4 Conclusions 70 References 72 Modeling Relational Transactions 80 1 Introduction 80 2 Background and Essential Concepts 82 2.1 Relational Transactions 82 2.2 Resources of Cooperation and Cooperation Corridors 83 2.3 Relations as the Central Problem 83 3 Operationalizing Relational Transactions: Modeling 85 3.1 The Unit of Analysis: Classifying Transaction Attributes 85 3.2 The Elements of the Model 87 3.3 Modeling Relational Transactions 88 3.4 Resources of Cooperation 91 3.5 Cooperation Corridors 92 3.6 Transactions and Their Emergence 93 3.7 Dynamics Through Strategies 93 4 Discussion 94 4.1 Limitations and Simplifications 94 4.2 Output Analysis 94 References 97 Part III Shared Value Creation and Social Responsibility 100 Bringing Inspiration from the Past: A Renaissance Manual for Merchants 101 1 Introduction 102 2 Benedetto Cotrugli and His Book 103 3 The “Libro del’arte dela mercatura” 105 4 Some Reflections for the Relational Economics Project 110 References 113 Shared Value Statement: New Perspectives on Measuring Business Value Creation 115 1 Introduction 115 2 Business Value Creation and the Value-Added Statement 117 3 Income-Based Theory of Shared Value 120 4 Notes on an Income-Based Theory of the Firm 124 5 The Shared Value Statement 127 6 Concluding Remarks 132 References 132 Managing Global Production Networks: Towards Social Responsibility via Inter-organizational Reliability? 136 1 Introduction 136 2 Global Production Networks, Their Governance and Management 138 2.1 Governance of Global Production Networks 139 2.2 Managing (Strategically Led) Global Production Networks 140 3 Relating Inter-organizational Reliability and Network Responsibility 141 4 Managing and Governing Global Production Networks for Reliability and Responsibility 143 4.1 Network Governance for Reliability and Responsibility 145 4.2 Network Management for Reliability and Responsibility 149 5 Discussion and Conclusion 154 References 156 Incentives, Autonomous Motivation, and Bank Managers’ Socially Responsible Behavior 162 1 Introduction 162 2 Background 164 2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility: From a Firm Perspective to Micro-corporate Social Responsibility 164 2.2 Theoretical Framework 165 2.3 A Review of Empirical and Experimental Studies on Socially Responsible Behavior 168 3 Hypotheses 170 4 Study 1 171 4.1 Method 171 4.2 Measure of Engagement in SRB and Motivation 173 4.3 Descriptive Results 174 4.4 Multivariate Results 175 4.5 Discussion 175 5 Study 2 178 5.1 Subjects 178 5.2 Design of Scenarios 178 5.3 Measure of Engagement in SRB and Motivation 178 5.4 Descriptive Results 179 5.5 Multivariate Results 179 5.6 Discussion 183 6 Concluding Discussion 184 Appendices 185 Appendix 1: Vignette Cues Used for the Independent Variables* 185 Appendix 2: Descriptions of Alternative SRB Projects* 186 Appendix 3: Items Used to Measure Engagement in SRB 187 Appendix 4: Items Used to Measure Motivation for SRB in Study 1** 188 Appendix 5: Items Used to Measure Motivation for SRB* in Study 2 188 References 189 Part IV Global Value Networks and Relational Contracts 194 Transcultural Cooperation in Global Networks. A Contribution to the Research Program of Relational Economics 195 1 A Relational View on Cooperative Value Creation 197 2 Culture as a Resource for Cooperation 199 3 Transcultural Learning 202 4 From Cultural Capital to Transcultural Commons 206 5 Transculturality and Diversity: A Relation—What Else? 209 References 212 Leadership in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs) that Address the SDGs: Relational Leadership and Ubuntu in Dialogue 215 1 A Introduction: The Importance of Rationality in Addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 215 2 Toward a Relational Leadership Approach to Multi-sector Partnerships (MSPs) Addressing the SDGs 217 3 A Relational Ontology of Personhood (Ubuntu) and the Macro-level of Multi-sector Partnerships 220 4 Relational Leadership and Ubuntu: A Dialogue 221 4.1 Questions to Ubuntu from the Perspective of Relational Leadership 221 4.2 Questions to Relational Leadership from the Perspective of Relational Ontology 222 4.3 Can a Critical Reading of Ubuntu Emerge? 223 5 Conclusion: Toward Co-responsibility 225 References 226 Relational Contracting in Practice: A Route to Relational Economics? 230 1 Introduction 230 2 Why Contracts Matter 231 3 Relational Contracts: How They Differ 237 4 Relational Contracts: The Benefits 241 5 Relational Contracts: Structural Implications 242 6 Relational Contracts: Barriers to Adoption and Use 244 7 Concluding Remarks 245 Part V Epistemology and Relational Economics 247 Relational Processes in Whitehead’s Metaphysics and Commons’ Economics. The Relevance of Cosmology for Economic Theory 248 1 Economics of Transaction. The Microanalytical Theory Decision 250 2 Natural Ontology and Social Ontology of Actual Transactions. Living in Exactly One, but Complex Universe 253 3 Reductive” or “Reductionist? An Important Methodological Difference for Microanalytical Approaches 257 4 Cosmological Process Metaphysics. Alfred North Whitehead 259 4.1 “Reductive”. A Cosmos of Relational Events 261 4.2 Not “Reductionist”. Not Everything in the Physical Cosmos is Physical 263 5 Transaction Economics. John R. Commons 265 5.1 “Reductive”. An Economy of Relational Transactions 266 5.2 Not “Reductionist”. Not Everything in the Economy is Economic 270 6 Outro 271 References 272 Relational Money—Working to Define the Conditions of Non-payment 275 1 Introduction 275 2 John R. Commons’ Transaction Theory of Money 276 2.1 Futurity 276 2.2 Profit and Interest 278 2.3 The Institution of Money and the Monetary Transaction 279 2.4 The Valuation Process 280 3 The Nexus of Money, Going Concerns, and Banks 282 3.1 Forecast and Repetition System(s) Instead of Circulation 282 3.2 The Function of Interest as Price 286 4 Implications for Relational Economics 289 4.1 Discussion of the Implied Concept of Capital 289 4.2 Polycontexturality and Money 290 4.3 Implications for the Logic of Cooperation 292 5 Summary and Outlook 293 Literature 294 Reasons Theoretical Underpinnings, and Core Features of a Novel Paradigm of Acting in Economics 296 1 Introduction 296 2 The Three Reasons for Seeking a Novel Paradigm of Acting 297 3 Some Remarks on the Conceptual Underpinnings 298 4 Six Crucial Features of the Novel Paradigm of Acting 304 Contracts as Cooperation: About an Implicit Ethics of Transactions 308 1 Transactions as Bilateral Mutualities 309 1.1 Networks and Markets 311 1.2 Implicit Ethical and Gift-Economic Implications of the Transaction 312 2 Gift-Economic Aspects of the Digital Economy 315 2.1 The Gift-Economic Core Process of the Digital Economy 319 2.2 Quaternary Allocation: On the Interlocking of Markets and Non-Markets 320 3 Coda 324 References 325