What are the antecedents of coopetition? An explanation in terms of centrality and personality traits

Purpose - Who is able to cooperate with his or her competitors? The coopetition is a relatively recent concept that is almost always studied at the inter-organizational level. To study coopetition at the individual and inter-individual levels, the authors will analyze the disposition of managers to compete and to cooperate as a function of their centrality to their network and also their personality traits. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - Using a sample of 110 trainee future managers (quantitative method), the paper shows that the network position and personality traits have different effects on propensity to compete and propensity to cooperate. Findings - The paper concludes that the network position has a strong effect on the propensity to compete and also on the propensity to cooperate, in contrast with that, personality traits are more relevant in the explanation of the propensity to cooperate. Originality/value - It seems there are individual and inter-individual causes which might explain the propensity of actors to coopetite. This body of research suggests that it is important to study the characteristics of managers who are able to create cooperation between competitors.