resource dependence theory case study

Resource Dependence Theory

• First Online: 01 December 2016

Cite this chapter

• Rafael Biermann 3 &
• Michael Harsch 4  

5836 Accesses

44 Citations

This chapter aims to make resource dependence theory (RDT) more accessible for scholars of international organizations. It first outlines RDT’s origins and evolution, introduces its core assumptions, and discusses the theory’s shortcomings. RDT is currently experiencing a phase of theory revival, refinement, and empirical application. Secondly the chapter explores whether RDT can be applied to international organizations and considers works by International Relations (IR) scholars who have employed a resource dependence perspective. Increasing empirical evidence indicates that RDT has the potential to improve our understanding of cooperation among international organizations. Open questions remain about RDT’s scope and its compatibility with other organizational and IR theories. The chapter concludes by suggesting several avenues for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime
• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Durable hardcover edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Developing theoretically informed typologies in international business: Why we need them, and how to do it

International business studies: are we really so uniquely complex.

Research methods in international business: The challenge of complexity

Bibliography.

Aldrich, H. E. (1976). Resource Dependence and Interorganizational Relations: Local Employment Services Offices and Social Services Sector Organizations. Administration & Society, 7 (4), 419–454.

Article   Google Scholar  

Aldrich, H. E., & Pfeffer, J. (1976). Environments of Organizations. Annual Review of Sociology, 2 , 79–105.

Google Scholar  

Aldrich, H. E. (1979). Organizations and Environments . Englewood-Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

Aldrich, H. E., & Whetten, D. A. (1981). Organization-Sets, Action-Sets, and Networks: Making the Most of Simplicity. In P. C. Nystrom & W. H. Starbuck (Eds.), Handbook of Organizational Design (Vol. 1, pp. 385–408). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Barnett, M., & Coleman, L. (2005). Designing Police: Interpol and the Study of Change in International Organizations. International Studies Quarterly, 49 (4), 593–619.

Barnett, M., & Duvall, R. (Eds.) (2005). Power in Global Governance . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Barrett, S. (2007). Why Cooperate? The Incentive to Supply Global Public Goods . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Book   Google Scholar  

Barney, J. (1991). Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, 17 (1), 99–120.

Benson, J. K. (1975). The Interorganizational Network as a Political Economy. Administrative Science Quarterly, 20 (2), 229–249.

Biermann, R. (2008). Towards a Theory of Inter-Organizational Networking. The Euro-Atlantic Security Institutions Interacting. The Review of International Organizations, 3 (2), 151–177.

Biermann, R. (2011). Inter-Organizational Relations: An Emerging Research Program. In B. Reinalda (Ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Non-State Actors (pp. 173–184). London: Ashgate.

Biermann, R. (2014). NATO’s Troubled Relations with Partner Organizations. A Resource Dependence Explanation. In S. Mayer (Ed.), NATO’s Post-Cold Bureaucracy and the Changing Provision of Security (pp. 215–234). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and Power in Social Life . New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

Brass, D. J. (2002). Intraorganizational Power and Dependence. In J. A. C. Baum (Ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Organizations (pp. 138–157). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Brechin, S. R., & Ness, G. D. (2013). Looking Back at the Gap: International Organizations as Organizations Twenty-Five Years Later. Journal of International Organization Studies, 4 (2), 14–39.

Brosig, M. (2011). Overlap and Interplay between International Organisations: Theories and Approaches. South African Journal of International Affairs, 18 (2), 147–167.

Brosig, M. (2015). Cooperative Peacekeeping in Africa: Exploring Regime Complexity. Abingdon: Routledge.

Casciaro, T., & Piskorski, M. J. (2005). Power Imbalance, Mutual Dependence, and Constraint Absorption: A Closer Look at Resource Dependence Theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50 (2), 167–199.

Cook, K. S. (1977). Exchange and Power in Networks of Interorganizational Relations. The Sociological Quarterly, 18 (1), 62–82.

Davis, G. F., & Cobb, J. A. (2010). Resource Dependence Theory: Past and Future. In C. B. Schoonhoven & F. Dobbin (Eds.), Stanford’s Organization Theory Renaissance 1970–2000 (pp. 21–42). Bingley: Emerald Group.

Dingwerth, K., Kerwer, D., & Nölke, A. (Eds.) (2009). Die Organisierte Welt. Internationale Beziehungen und Organisationsforschung . Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Dowling, J., & Pfeffer, J. (1975). Organizational Legitimacy. Social Values and Organizational Behavior. The Pacific Sociological Review, 18 (1), 122–136.

Drees, J. M., & Heugens, P. P. (2013). Synthesizing and Extending Resource Dependence Theory: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Management, 20 (10), 1–33.

Ellis, D. C. (2010). The Organizational Turn in International Organization Theory. Journal of International Organization Studies, 1 (1), 11–28.

Emerson, R. M. (1962). Power-Dependence Relations. American Sociological Review, 27 (1), 31–41.

Emerson, R. M. (1964). Power-Dependence Relations: Two Experiments. Sociometry, 27 (3), 282–298.

Emerson, R. M. (1972a). Exchange Theory, Part I: A Psychological Basis for Social Exchange. In J. Berger, M. Zelditch Jr., & B. Anderson (Eds.), Sociological Theories in Progress (Vol. 2, pp. 38–57). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Emerson, R. M. (1972b). Exchange Theory, Part II: Exchange Relations and Network Structures. In J. Berger, M. Zelditch Jr., & B. Anderson (Eds.), Sociological Theories in Progress (Vol. 2, pp. 58–87). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Etzioni, A. (1960). New Directions in the Study of Organizations and Society. Social Research, 27 (2), 223–228.

Gargiulo, M. (1993). Two-Step Leverage: Managing Constraint in Organizational Politics. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38 (1), 1–19.

Galaskiewicz, J. (1985). Interorganizational Relations. Annual Review of Sociology, 11 , 281–304.

Gest, N., & Grigorescu, A. (2010). Interactions among Intergovernmental Organizations in the Anti-Corruption Realm. The Review of International Organizations, 5 (1), 53–72.

Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91 (3), 481–510.

Harsch, M. F. (2015). The Power of Dependence: NATO-UN Cooperation in Crisis Management . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hatch, M. J. (1997). Organization Theory. Modern, Symbolic, and Postmodern Perspectives . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Heisbourg, F. (2000). European Defence. Making It Work , Chaillot Paper 42, Paris: EU Institute for Security Studies.

Hillman, A. J., Withers, M. C., & Collins, B. J. (2009). Resource Dependence Theory: A Review. Journal of Management, 35 (6), 1404–1427.

Huxham, C., & Beech, N. (2010). Inter-Organizational Power. In S. Cropper, M. Ebers, C. Huxham, & P. Smith Ring (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Inter-Organizational Relations (pp. 555–579). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jacobs, D. (1974). Dependency and Vulnerability: An Exchange Approach to the Control of Organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19 (1), 45–59.

Katila, R., Rosenberger, J. D., & Eisenhardt, K. M. (2008). Swimming with Sharks: Technology Ventures, Defense Mechanisms, and Corporate Relationships. Administrative Science Quarterly, 53 (2), 295–332.

Keohane, R. O., & Nye, J. S. (1977). Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition. Boston: Little Brown.

Khandwalla, R. N. (1981). Properties of Competing Organizations. In P. C. Nystrom & W. H. Starbuck (Eds.), Handbook of Organizational Design (Vol. 1, pp. 409–432). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Koch, M. (2006). Processes of Autonomization in / of International Organizations? The Case of the World Trade Organization ( WTO ), Working Paper Series, Bielefeld: Institut für Weltgesellschaft.

Levine, S., & White, P. E. (1961). Exchange as a Conceptual Framework for the Study of Interorganizational Relationships. Administrative Science Quarterly, 5 (4), 583–601.

Liese, A. (2009). Die unterschiedlich starke Öffnung internationaler Organisationen gegenüber nichtstaatlichen Akteuren. Erklärungen der Institutionen- und Organisationstheorie. In K. Dingwerth, D. Kerwer, & A. Nölke (Eds.), Die Organisierte Welt. Internationale Beziehungen und Organisationsforschung (pp. 189–210). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Liese, A. (2010). Explaining Varying Degrees of Openness in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In C. Jönsson & J. Tallberg (Eds.), Transnational Actors in Global Governance: Patterns, Explanations and Implications (pp. 88–108). Houndmills: Palgrave.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Lipson, M. (2011). A Resource Dependence Model of Peace Operations Coordination , Paper presented at the 6th European Consortium for Political Research General Conference, Reykjavík, 25-27 August.

March, J. G. (1966). The Power of Power. In D. Easton (Ed.), Varieties of Political Theory (pp. 39–60). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

Mayntz, R. (2009). Prolog. In K. Dingwerth, D. Kerwer, & A. Nölke (Eds.), Die Organisierte Welt. Internationale Beziehungen und Organisationsforschung (pp. 9–11). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Mizruchi, M. S., & Yoo, M. (2002). Interorganizational Power and Dependence. In J. A. C. Baum (Ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Organizations (pp. 599–620). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Ness, G. D., & Brechin, S. R. (1988). Bridging the Gap: International Organizations as Organizations. International Organization, 42 (2), 245–273.

Oliver, C. (1990). Determinants of Interorganizational Relationships: Integration and Future Directions. Academy of Management Review, 15 (2), 241–265.

Oliver, C. (1991). Network Relations and Loss of Organizational Autonomy. Human Relations, 44 (9), 943–961.

Paris, R. (2009). Understanding the “Coordination Problem” in Postwar Statebuilding. In R. Paris & T. D. Sisk (Eds.), The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations (pp. 53–78). New York: Routledge.

Pfeffer, J. (2003). ‘Introduction to the Classic Edition’. In J. Pfeffer & G. R. Salancik (Eds.), The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective (pp. xi–xxix). Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2 nd ed.

Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1974). Organizational Decision Making as a Political Process: The Case of a University Budget. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19 (2), 135–151.

Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (2003). The External Control of Organizations. A Resource Dependence Perspective . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2 online ed.

Podolny, J. M. (1993). A Status-Based Model of Market Competition. American Journal of Sociology, 98 (4), 829–872.

Provan, K. G., Beyer, J. M., & Kruytbosch, C. (1980). Environmental Linkages and Power in Resource-Dependence Relations between Organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25 (2), 200–219.

Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1974). The Bases and Use of Power in Organizational Decision Making: The Case of a University. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19 (4), 453–473.

Salancik, G. R., Pfeffer, J., & Kelley, J. P. (1978). A Contingency Model of Influence in Organizational Decision-Making. The Pacific Sociological Review, 21 (2), 239–256.

Schäferhoff, M. (2009). Kooperation oder Konkurrenz? Zur Kooperationsbereitschaft internationaler Verwaltungsstäbe in transnationalen öffentlich-privaten Partnerschaften. In K. Dingwerth, D. Kerwer, & A. Nölke (Eds.), Die Organisierte Welt. Internationale Beziehungen und Organisationsforschung (pp. 208–228). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Scott, W. R. (2003). Organizations. Rational, Natural, and Open Systems . Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 5th ed.

Selznick, P. (1949). TVA and the Grass Roots: A Study in the Sociology of Formal Organization . Berkeley: University of California Press.

Thompson, J. D. (1967). Organizations in Action . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Thompson, J. D., & McEwen, W. J. (1958). Organizational Goals and Environment: Goal-Setting as an Interaction Process. American Sociological Review, 23 (1), 23–31.

Ulrich, D., & Barney, J. B. (1984). Perspectives in Organizations: Resource Dependence, Efficiency, and Population. Academy of Management Review, 9 (3), 471–481.

Van de Ven, A. H. (1976). On the Nature, Formation, and Maintenance of Relations Among Organizations. Academy of Management Review, 1 (4), 24–36.

Van de Ven, A. H., & Walker, G. (1984). The Dynamics of Interorganizational Coordination. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29 (4), 598–621.

Yuchtman, E., & Seashore, S. E. (1967). A System Resource Approach to Organizational Effectiveness. American Sociological Review, 32 (6), 891–903.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

Rafael Biermann

New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Michael Harsch

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

Joachim A. Koops

Vesalius College, Brussels, Belgium

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Biermann, R., Harsch, M. (2017). Resource Dependence Theory. In: Koops, J., Biermann, R. (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Inter-Organizational Relations in World Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36039-7_6

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36039-7_6

Published : 01 December 2016

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, London

Print ISBN : 978-1-137-36038-0

Online ISBN : 978-1-137-36039-7

eBook Packages : Political Science and International Studies Political Science and International Studies (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

• DOI: 10.1177/0149206309343469
• Corpus ID: 10579594

Resource Dependence Theory: A Review

• A. Hillman , M. Withers , B. Collins
• Published 23 September 2009
• Business, Environmental Science
• Journal of Management

2,345 Citations

Resource dependence theory, synthesizing and extending resource dependence theory, why do firms form r&d cooperation: a resource dependence perspective.

• Highly Influenced

A resource dependence perspective of EMNE FDI strategy

Board interlocks and firm performance: toward a combined agency–resource dependence perspective, 1 which firms leave multi-stakeholder initiatives a resource dependence perspective on delistings from the united nations global compact, the divestiture of acquired subunits: a resource dependence approach, antecedents of technological diversification: a resource dependence logic, reducing environmental uncertainty: how high performance work systems moderate the resource dependence-firm performance relationship, exploring the antecedents of franchise internationalization, 144 references, interindustry merger patterns and resource dependence: a replication and extension of pfeffer (1972).

• Highly Influential

The Resource Dependence Role of Corporate Directors: Strategic Adaptation of Board Composition in Response to Environmental Change

Power imbalance, mutual dependence, and constraint absorption: a closer look at resource dependence theory.

• 14 Excerpts

Buffer or Bridge? Environmental and Organizational Determinants of Public Affairs Activities in American Firms

Corporate linkages and organizational environment: a test of the resource dependence model, board composition from a strategic contingency perspective, 10 learning and strategic alliances, swimming with sharks: technology ventures, defense mechanisms and corporate relationships, antecedents and effects of parent control in international joint ventures, interorganizational imitation: the impact of interlocks on corporate acquisition activity, related papers.

Showing 1 through 3 of 0 Related Papers