Performance outcomes from reciprocal altruism: a multi-level model

Abstract

In recent years, many small- and medium-sized firms have joined formal strategic networks in an effort to enhance firm performance. We set out to examine how altruistic behavior by these firms affected their performance at different levels of altruistic norms within their network. Using a multi-level analytic approach and data from a population of Swedish strategic networks, we found significant cross-level moderating effects that explained variance in firm-level performance. The results showed that firms participating in strategic networks benefit more from being altruistic when other network members generally display high levels of altruism. Apparently, altruistic behaviors are rewarded relative to a general network norm. The potential to perform well thus depends on aligning a firm’s altruistic behavior with the general level of altruism in its network.