The Uncertainty-Governance Choice Puzzle Revisited: Predictions from Transaction Costs Economics, Resource-Based Theory, and Real Options Theory

Franziska König examines the nature and effects of uncertainty on governance choice of firms. Despite an innumerable amount of theoretical and empirical efforts that have been undertaken until to date, the relationship between uncertainty and governance choice remains nebulous. On the one hand, there are numerous theoretical approaches suggesting different implications regarding governance choice. For example, while in the face of uncertainty, transaction costs economics (TCE) favors hierarchical governance, real options theory (ROT) promotes more market-based governance solutions. On the other hand, empirical research has been adopting an innumerable amount of different operationalizations and has presented in part divergent empirical results. As a consequence the strategic management literature has not been able to advise management practice on which governance form to choose in the face of different uncertainty problems. Franziska König approaches the theoretical and empirical puzzle in a systematical way and her results materially advance current research. Firstly, Franziska König suggests a more formal, circumstance-based categorization of uncertainty-governance choice relationships that allows integrating different theoretical explanations and resolving empirical anomalies. Subsequently, she adopts a mul- dimensional, circumstance-based lens to investigate the contributions of three theoretical frameworks, i. e. , TCE, Resource-Based View (RBV), and ROT, and therewith to gain a deeper understanding of uncertainty-governance choice problems. Secondly, Franziska König provides a thorough examination of the state-of-the-art regarding empirical research.