A Commentary on Kilduff et al. (2010): From Dyadic to Distributed Rivalry

Kilduff et al. (2010) reconceptualized rivalry as a subjective competitive relationship that cannot be reduced to objective indicators of competition. Yet this perceptual insight was developed within a dyadic framework that subsequent research has largely retained, treating rivalry as a relationship between two actors rather than examining how perceptions vary across stakeholders. We advance a distributed view of rivalry in which this variation is theoretically consequential, not merely measurement error. This perspective raises three interrelated questions: Who is viewed as the rival? What is the rivalry about? And how widely are these perceptions shared? A coherent dyadic rivalry is one possible configuration, emerging when perceptions converge around a focal pair. When perceptions fragment across individuals, units, and external audiences, rivalry may disperse organizational attention, generate conflicting priorities, and undermine coordinated action. We thus extend Kilduff et al.’s perceptual insight by highlighting how the distribution of rivalry perceptions shapes organizational interpretation and action.