Chapter 6: National Culture and Legitimacy in International Alliances

In this chapter we explore the interrelationship between national cultural values and the dynamics of legitimacy management in international alliances. Alliances are prone to instability and international alliances may suffer the additional problem of a cultural gap that may further enhance such instability. The idea that interpartner legitimacy is crucial in shaping alliance success is now being increasingly recognized in the literature but there is as yet little systematic work that demonstrates the linkages between national culture and legitimacy management in international alliances. The chapter discusses how national cultural values may impact different types of legitimacy (pragmatic, moral, cognitive) in an international alliance. The concept of national culture has been operationalized in many ways but for the purposes of this chapter we draw upon the construct of individualism-collectivism that has garnered much attention in the literature. Individualistic and collectivistic cultures are known to differ on a number of dimensions and these differences have significant implications for legitimacy management in alliances. These differences have an impact on the process by which legitimacy is attained, the relative importance of different types of legitimacy, and the issue of legitimacy repair. We also discuss the legitimacy dynamics at the different stages of alliance development. A number of propositions are derived for each of these alliance development stages to facilitate empirical testing. We conclude by discussing the key managerial implications of the framework proposed in the chapter regarding the interrelationship between national cultural values and the dynamics of legitimacy management.