Drawing on institutional theory, we argue that the level of corruption in an alliance partner’s country negatively affects the market reaction to a focal firm’s international strategic alliance announcement, as corruption creates uncertainty regarding the behavior of the partner firm. We further propose that anti-bribery laws in the focal firm’s home country strengthen the negative relation between corruption and market reactions, while the focal firm’s experiences in challenging institutional environments potentially attenuate the relationship. Our empirical analysis covers more than 1,000 international strategic alliance announcements involving firms from 30 countries. The findings indicate the importance of corruption as a facet of the institutional environment that shapes firms’ value creation opportunities and risks in international alliances.

根据制度理论，我们认为联盟合伙人所在国家/地区的腐败程度会对焦点公司的国际战略联盟公告的市场反应产生负面影响，因为腐败会导致伙伴公司行为的不确定性。我们进一步建议，在焦点公司母国的反贿赂法律会加强腐败与市场反应之间的消极关系，而焦点公司在具有挑战性的制度环境中的经验可能会削弱这种关系。我们的经验分析涵盖了来自30个国家/地区的公司的1,000多个国际战略联盟公告。研究结果表明，腐败对于制度环境的重要性至关重要，制度环境决定着企业在国际联盟中创造价值的机会和风险。