Relational Competition: Interesting Idea, Questionable Construct

The "relational competition" concept introduced by Chen and Miller (2010, 2011, 2015) represents a potential new view of competition that is culturally distinct from traditional models of competition, with the "lifting of all boats" as a key feature. While the concept has grown in popularity over the years, its application to a diverse set of research ques-tions has rarely advanced its theoretical development. We stress test the relational com-petition concept to better evaluate its claim as a new view of competition in today's culturally and institutionally complex world. In particular, we assess the construct validity of relational competition and identify two issues hindering its theoretical devel-opment. The first stems from its reliance on an outdated linguistic theory, the Whorfian hypothesis. The second arises from inadequate construct clarity. As a result, although relational competition is an interesting concept, its validity as a theoretical construct remains questionable, thus weakening its claim to be a fundamentally new view of com-petition. We close by proposing three avenues for further scholarly development of the relational competition concept as well as outlining policy implications.