We argue that a novel dark personality trait—the focal firm’s desire for control—may
drive key decisions pertaining to how to monitor strategic alliances, which in turn can
deter performance outcomes. Our conceptual model was tested based on a survey of
197 international strategic alliances. Results demonstrate that the firm’s use of process
monitoring to oversee the counterpart drives its performance outcomes only if there is
a low level of information exchange between alliance partners; as such, information
exchange norms substitute for process monitoring. Whereas, the focal firm’s use of
outcome monitoring enhances its performance outcomes only if it is reinforced by a
high level of information exchange; that is, these two monitoring mechanisms
complement each other in alliances.