Beyond Internal and External: A Dyadic Theory of Relational Attributions

Attribution theory argues that people assess the locus of causality of achievement-relevant events as either internal or external. Given the frequency of interpersonal interactions in organizations, we posit that a third category—relational attributions—may be used. Drawing on relational perspectives, we lay the conceptual foundation and develop a dyadic theory of relational attributions, proposing their antecedents and linking them to relationship-focused behaviors, which influence the quality of interpersonal links within organizations.