"Two Tails of Mianzi: Untying the Adversarial Loop of Relationship and Opportunism in Digital Economy"

"In the digital economy, the service triad has replaced the supplier-buyer dyad as the basic unit of inter-organizational dynamics, giving rise to new service provider-user relationships. These relationships are crucial for service providers\u2019 marketing but are susceptible to user opportunism. This issue relates to an adversarial loop in transaction cost economics (TCE): how can quality relationships be established to mitigate opportunism when such opportunism hinders relationship formation? This study proposes that mianzi (or \u201cfacework\u201d) plays a vital role, especially in the Chinese context, by fostering quality relationships between business partners and reducing the negative effects of opportunism to ensure future cooperations. Empirical analysis of data from 132 third-party logistics (3PL) providers in China confirms these two-fold roles of mianzi in developing relationships with exposure to opportunism, and reveal that behavioral uncertainty is a critical condition for leveraging mianzi behavior. These findings offer valuable insights for managing service triads in the digital economy."