Integration of coopetition paradox by individuals: A case study within the banking sector

International audienceThis study seeks to provide insights into the principle of “integration of coopetitionparadox” consideredas a managerial necessity to manage coopetition situations. Coopetition is a relationships filled with tensions related to the coexistence of two contradictory dimensions of cooperation and competition. To manage this situation, individuals need to integrate the coopetive paradox, that means to accept cognitively the paradox and to integrate both contradictory dimensions into their daily activities.The cognitive dimension of the integration principle and its consequences on managerial practices remain under investigated in previous literature. How do individuals perceive the coopetition paradox? What are the consequences of the integration principle on managerial practices? We aim to fill this gap by identifying how individuals are capable of integrating coopetition paradox and how do they deal withit in their daily management. Based on an in-depth study of an exemplarcase of intra-firm coopetitionwe identifyfor the first time in the coopetitiveliterature to show and discuss differentcapacities of integration of the coopetitionparadoxbetween managers. According to the integration principle at the individuallevel, individuals should cognitively accept the coopetition paradox and behave correspondingly to their cognitive perception, emphasizing on both dimensions ofcooperationand competition. However, in this study, we show that managerial practices can be disconnectedfrom a cognitive acceptance of the paradox. Moreover, depending on the level of the cognitive integration, we pointout that managerial tools are insufficient to efficiently manage coopetitionand that all manager are not capable of integrate the paradox and handle coopetition situations