A DIMENSÃO NACIONAL DOS CUSTOS DE TRANSAÇÃO: OPORTUNISMO E CONFIANÇA INSTITUCIONAL

Abstract

Opportunistic behavior, one of the assumptions of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), is often seen as an universal concept neglecting that opportunism may vary from one country to another. The aim of this article is to show that academic research as well as managerial applications which use TCE should consider the relationship between different institutional environments and propensity to opportunistic behavior in society. For this reason we will investigate the propensity towards opportunistic behavior in 27 countries and to which extent opportunism is related to confidence in institutions. It will be argued that countries with a higher inclination towards opportunistic behavior and lower confidence in institutions may show higher transaction costs and vice-versa. Drawing on literature review, two indexes were built in order to measure opportunistic behavior and confidence in institutions. The sample of 27 countries from six continents was extracted from the World Values Survey. Based on our results, several research propositions will be formulated. They may serve as a basis for research on cooperation in different institutional environments and business internationalization.