THE ANTECEDENTS AND IMPACT OF ALLIANCE MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES AND THE MODERATING ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL: EVIDENCE FROM THE LIBYAN FAMILY BUSINESS SECTOR

Alliance among firms can yield competitive advantages by providing access to the tangible and intangible assets through inter-organisational learning. However, the research shows that these relationships are complicated and risky where approximately 50% of them fail. Against this background, researchers sought to understand the evolution of particular capabilities that are essential to develop and maintain strategic alliances, namely the Alliance Management Capabilities (AMC). However, evaluation of this relationship in the setting of family businesses is missing. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) perspective, this study develops and tests a relational model of AMC and alliance performance. Specifically, this study aims to identify the mediating role of AMC on the relationship between (Alliance experience, Culture of Family Business and Political Instability) and alliance performance in Libyan family business using a quantitative research approach. Data were collected by a questionnaire from 302 Libyan family businesses.

Overall, this study makes four key contributions: First, in consideration of RBV, this study attempts to answer what the determinants of AMC effectiveness are in Libyan family business domain? Second, this study has examined the antecedents of AMC in Libyan family businesses and has found that alliance experience, the culture of family business and political instability tends to positively affect AMC. Third, this study adds to current knowledge by examining social capital as a moderating effect on the relationship between alliance management capabilities and alliance performance. Finally, this research contributes to the literature of AMC by empirically testing the AMC construct and its dimensions (alliance proactiveness, alliance coordination, and alliance learning) in the Libyan family business context.The findings have also shown that AMC has a positive impact on alliance performance and partially mediates the relationship between alliance experience, the culture of the family business, and political instability and alliance performance. In particular, the result of this study shows that the effect of AMC on alliance performance is dependent upon the level of social capital.