Handbook of Management Scales/Threat of opportunism

Threat of opportunism (CR = 0.67) Description This scale was based on Souder & Shrivastava (1985) and Simonin (1991). Definition In the article, the threat of opportunism refers to the perceived threat of opportunism associated with a sourcing decision. Items Respondents indicated agreement with the first statement in each pair with a rating of 1 and agreement with the second statement with a rating of 7. Collaborating or sourcing this technology externally places our firm at risk of being unfairly taken advantage of by these partner firms. / There is little risk of being unfairly taken advantage of by partner firms or suppliers of similar technology. (R) Our firm could expect complete honesty from potential partners and suppliers associated with this technology. / Our firm would need to assume that the partners and suppliers associated with this technology would act dishonestly if given the opportunity. Sourcing this technology externally through licensing or collaborative development would involve extensive contracting and managerial oversight. / Minimal contracting and oversight would he required for acquiring this technology from an external source. Source Steensma & Corley (2001) Organizational Context as a Moderator of Theories on Firm Boundaries for Technology Sourcing. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 271-291. Discussion The reliability is a bit too low (CR < 0.7).