A matter of perspective – the role of interpersonal relationships in supply chain risk management
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN: 0144-3577
Article publication date: 20 February 2018
Issue publication date: 18 October 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to, first, explore the role of interpersonal relationships between buying and supplying firms in the management of supply chain disruptions (SCDs). Interpersonal connections are proposed as “social lubricants” that can advance the knowledge about conventional interorganizational antecedents of firm resilience. Differentiating between high- and low-complexity manufacturing industries, the study then looks into how managers from these industry clusters can leverage the efficacy of these relationships through the appropriate use of interorganizational governance mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling is conducted with data collected from 229 manufacturing firms in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Industry clusters are formed via a Q-sort exercise.
Findings
Results support the assumption of a socially embedded, interpersonal dimension in buyer-supplier relationships that impact organizational-level resilience. It is suggested that investments in interpersonal skills and interpersonal complementarity are significant antecedents of both relational and re-deployable firm resilience. Surprisingly, no support was found for a positive impact of interpersonal information sharing on firm resilience, challenging findings from previous studies on an interorganizational level. Interorganizational governance and industry affiliation each have moderating effects on the performance of the resilience efficacy of interpersonal relationship antecedents, suggesting the existence of an important managerial lever.
Originality/value
Integrating the supply chain and behavioral science literature, this study is the first to investigate the interplay of interpersonal and organizational antecedents and their efficacy in the management of SCDs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study has been made possible in part by the Kuehne Foundation, Switzerland, and the “Special Action SGUIT-2015 (SBAPA 2015-06) HPM-Project-2015/148 US- Junta de Andalucía-Spain; PAIDI Excellence Project P08-SEJ-0384-Junta de Andalucía (Spain) and DPI2009-11148- Spanish National Program of Industrial Design and Production.”
Citation
Durach, C.F. and Machuca, J.A.D. (2018), "A matter of perspective – the role of interpersonal relationships in supply chain risk management", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 38 No. 10, pp. 1866-1887. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-03-2017-0157
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited