Interpersonal and inter-organizational relationship drivers of supply chain integration
| Published date | 09 July 2018 |
| Pages | 1170-1191 |
| Date | 09 July 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-05-2017-0216 |
| Author | Bill Wang,Yuanfei Kang,Paul Childerhouse,Baofeng Huo |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
Interpersonal and
inter-organizational relationship
drivers of supply
chain integration
Bill Wang
School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University,
Auckland, New Zealand
Yuanfei Kang
College of Business, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
Paul Childerhouse
School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University,
Palmerston North, New Zealand, and
Baofeng Huo
School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this pape r is to examine how inter personal relationsh ips (IPRs) and
inter-organisatio nal relationships (IOR s) interact with each oth er as driving forces of supp ly chain
integration (SCI). More specifically (the) three dimensions of IPR –personal affecti on, personal credibility,
and personal communication –are examined in regards to ho w they affect inter-org anisational
relationships during SC I.
Design/methodology/approach –The research employed an exploratory multiple case study approach
with four New Zealand case companies selected as the empirical basis. Data were collected through
semi-structured interviews of managerial executives in relation to supply chain activities, which were
triangulated with company archival data.
Findings –The authors found that IPRs are able to interact with IORs to influence the integration of supply
chains. More specifically, IPRs influence IORs by initiating organisational relationships in the SCI context;
and influences from IPR dimensions on IORs tend to be of differing magnitudes and have different
evolutional paths across the whole SCI process.
Originality/value –This research contributes to knowledge about the roles and mechanisms through which
IPRs shape and enable inter-organisational level relationships within the SCI context.
Keywords Case study, Interpersonal relationships, Supply chain integration,
Inter-organizational relationships, Relationships, Integration
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Market competition has long since evolved from competition between individual
companies to competition between supply chains (SCs) (Tan, 2001). Integration of these
SCs is a means of enhancing efficiency and effectiveness, resulting in improvements in
competitiveness and performance (Flynn et al., 2010; Gimenez et al., 2012; Leuschner et al.,
2013). Supply chain integration (SCI) refers to the collaboration and coordination between
suppliers and buyers along an extended supply network (Cao et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2016).
While most extant research on SCI has extensively examined various factors of inter-
organisational relationships (IORs) from an organisational level, influences from
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 118 No. 6, 2018
pp. 1170-1191
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-05-2017-0216
Received 29 May 2017
Revised 5 September 2017
11 January 2018
Accepted 19 January 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
This research was supported by National Natural ScienceFoundation of China (No. 71525005, No. 71372058).
1170
IMDS
118,6
individual behaviour and interpersonal relationships (IPRs) (Huo et al., 2015) have been
overlooked, resulting in a research gap in the SC literature involving the role of IPRs
(Gligor and Holcomb, 2013).
Since SCI is integration between companies in terms of strategic alliances, information
sharing, and process coordination (Flynn et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2016; Zhao et al., 2011), it is
logical to study how SCI is influenced by IOR factors including trust, leadership, power,
commitment, justice, culture, and communication (Braunscheidel et al., 2010; Cao et al., 2015;
Griffith et al., 2006; Huo et al., 2017; Kwon and Suh, 2005; Mentzer et al., 2001; Prajogo and
Olhager, 2012; Zhang and Huo, 2013; Zhao et al., 2008). However, SCI is planned, executed,
and controlled by people (Cao et al., 2015). Individuals do not act purely rationally, since they
care about others, and are influenced by their relationships with others and their cultural
background (Cai et al., 2017; Schorsch et al., 2017; Sweeney, 2013).
It is necessary to study the link between IORs and IPRs in order to achieve a
comprehensive understanding of SCI for three reasons: first, it is the inner, radical, and
inherent IPRs that underpin and motivate the outer IORs, and it is the IPRs that may be
converted into IORs in order to enable SCI. Second, IPRs may initiate the formation of IORs.
For example, likeability based on personal affection may influence the outcomes of
interpersonal interaction and significantly influence willingness to engage in strategic SCI
(Pulles and Hartman, 2017). It has even been suggested that a company cannot build IORs,
unless it has first built IPRs (Gligor and Holcomb, 2013). Third, IPRs may affect the level of
IORs. For example, personal credibility can influence interpersonal trust, which is in turn
related to inter-organisational trust (Zaheer et al., 1998). Conversely, IPRs may be built,
strengthened, and developed during IOR processes, and thus the trade-off between IPRs and
IORs in SCI should be considered.
Overall, a failure to account for the role of IPRs in SCI research would limit our
understanding to a superficial level, which would not be able to identify the root mechanism
of SCI. Researchers have called for the study of individual behaviour and IPRs as an
important theme in SC research (Huo et al., 2015; Gligor and Holcomb, 2013; Mandják et al.,
2016; Pulles and Hartman, 2017). However, research on this highly important area is still in
its infancy (Schorsch et al., 2017). To address the research gap, our study addresses the
following research questions:
RQ1. What is the role of IPRs on IORs during the formative stage of SCI?
RQ2. How does personal credibility, affection, communication among boundary
spanners influence the occurrence of IORs?
RQ3. How do influences from personal credibility, affection, communication among
boundary spanners on IORs change during the operational stage of SCI?
While previous SCI studies focused on organisational antecedents mainly at the
inter-organisational level, our study focuses on identifying influencing factors on both
organisational and interpersonal levels and on examining mechanisms through which
different dimensions of IPRs influence different factors of IORs, jointly enabling SCI. Based
on four case companies operating in the manufacturing and service sectors in New Zealand,
this study develops several research propositions to reveal the role played by IPRs in
influencing IORs to enable SCI.
Our study contributes to the SCM literature in several ways. First, it integrates factors
from both IORs and IPRs to examine their interactive roles in enabling SCI, and thus
overcomes the shortcomings of prior research that overlooks the role IPRs play. Although
IPRs have long been examined for their influence on organisational behaviour, the role of
IPRs in SCM has only recently received attention in areas such as inventory management
(Bruccoleri et al., 2014), SC negotiation and communication (Gligor and Autry, 2012;
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Relationship
drivers of
supply chain
integration
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