Interimistic relational exchange: Conceptualization and propositional development

Research on relational exchange has focused primarily on long-term, or "end uring," relational exchange. The evolutionary model of relationship develop ment that is the foundation for much of the research on enduring relational exchange lacks applicability for short-term, or "interimistic," relational exchange. Interimistic relational exchange is defined as a close, collabor ative, fast-developing, short-lived exchange relationship in which companie s pool their skills and/or resources to address a transient albeit importan t, business opportunity and/or threat. Because interimistic exchange relati onships must quickly become functional and have a short life, these relatio nships have less time to fully develop the relational governance mechanisms assumed in the evolutionary model. Therefore, interimistic relational exch ange appears to rely more on nonrelational mechanisms than does enduring re lational exchange. This article (1) examines how interimistic relational ex change governance differs from that of enduring relational exchange and (2) develops propositions for further research on interimistic relational exch ange.