If the quality of the relationship is good, managers are more willing to wait to let adversity to resolve itself, Tjemkes said.

“We also found the lack of alternatives or the presence of alliance specific investments that can not be easily deployed in other relationships, for example a proprietary IT system, hold exiting a relationship at bay, so managers are more likely to be constructive,” he said.

“Similar results were found for a lack of alternatives. For example, if you are locked into a relationship, you are more willing to work on it. If you have alternatives you will tend to look elsewhere.”

Responses to adversity within a business relationship are also influenced by the personalities involved. Risk averse people are likely to increase their commitment to the partner, or to be patient. More risk prone people are more likely to threaten to exit the partnership, be opportunistic and aggressively voice their opinions.

A third factor to influence a manager’s response is the particular industry environment. Tjemkes found opposing effects given different external conditions.