Sustainability‐Oriented Collaborations in Green Energy Markets Formation: A Configurational Analysis of Alliance Management Capabilities and Relational View

ABSTRACT Sustainability‐oriented collaborations are inter‐organisational arrangements where the competencies of multiple companies are pooled together to tackle environmental challenges. These collaborations differ from traditional strategic alliances in that they tackle complex goals amidst greater uncertainties that extend beyond economic performance, thus requiring a more diverse array of partners. Consequently, scholars have questioned whether the mainstream strategic alliance literature can adequately explain the varying outcomes of sustainability‐oriented collaborations. Drawing on the Alliance Management Capabilities (AMCs) and Relational View (RV) literature, we investigated 16 sustainability‐oriented collaborations to understand how the focal companies guide these inter‐firm collaborations to success. The results of a fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis reveal that successful collaborations present four different combinations of constructs derived from AMC and RV, namely coordination, inter‐organisational learning, governance models, and transaction‐specific assets. The paper discusses how these combinations effectively address the unique challenges of sustainability‐oriented collaborations, ensuring their successful functioning. As its main contribution, this study offers a configurational perspective that provides actionable insights for effectively managing and leveraging alliance management capabilities and relational resources in green energy markets.