H. Van De Ven, Andrew, On the Nature, Formation, and Maintenance of Relations among Organizations, Academy of Management review , 1(4), 1976, pp. 24-36
A relationship between two or more organizations is a social action system because it exhibits the basic properties of any organized form of collective behavior. Dimensions commonly used to examine social structure and process are appropriate for defining and evaluating the characteristics of inter-organizational relationships. A theory is developed on how and why relationships between organizations voluntarily emerge and are maintained.