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Our understanding of the drivers of information sharing in export supply chains (ESCs) in general, and in agri-food ESCs in particular, remains scarce. In response, the authors’ paper seeks to explore the drivers of information sharing between two key members of an agri-food ESC (producers and exporters) in Jordan and investigate the link to export performance.

The authors use a two-stage qualitative approach. They initially interview seven ESC experts and a comparative case study across ten producer-exporter relationships follows. The latter involves 40 interviews (four per case) with producers and exporters in these relationships, supplemented with archival material and non-participant observation.

Specific transaction, relationship and network drivers are found to support information sharing in these relationships and information sharing is linked to export performance. In higher performing cases, information sharing is triggered by integration-focused drivers, where the emphasis is on long-term and joint planning, based on sharing wider types of information. In lower performing cases, information sharing is triggered by more individualistic drivers and producers and exporters are sharing logistics-related information with a short-term perspective.

This study extends current literature by identifying how different drivers influence information sharing in producer-exporter relationships and are linked to differences in export performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what theoretical lenses have been used to analyze and understand information sharing in supply chains. The paper elaborates on the predominant theories and discusses how they can be integrated to research different aspects of information sharing.

The paper carried out a structured literature review by using a combination of selected keywords to search for peer-reviewed articles in ten journals.

The findings suggest that four out of ten reviewed articles explicitly apply one or more theoretical lenses. The predominant theories used include transaction cost economics, contingency theory, resource-based view, resource dependency theory and relational governance theories such as the relational view and social exchange theory.

These theories can be applied to analyze different aspects of information sharing. By using the theories in a complementary way, it is possible to increase our understanding of information sharing between companies related to: why and what information to share with whom, how to share and the impact of antecedents, barriers and drivers.

The results of the paper highlight the importance of tailoring information sharing structures and mechanisms to the context of the transaction and the business relationship.

This paper addresses how theoretical perspectives inform empirical research on information sharing in supply chains. It puts forward an integrative conceptual framework based on cross-disciplinary theories and makes specific suggestions for future empirical research in this area.

The aim of this paper is to provide a review of state-of-the-art literature on information sharing in the context of African perishable agri-food supply chains (AFSCs). In doing so, the authors hope to stimulate further research and advance both theory and practice on African perishable AFSCs, which is a relevant, but under-investigated context.

The authors’ systematic literature review covers a period of 21 years (2000–2021). After providing the bibliometric and methodological insights related to this sample of literature, the authors provide a detailed analysis and discussion of the key aspects of information sharing in African perishable AFSCs, based on a review framework grounded in the information sharing literature.

The authors’ review revealed that information sharing in African AFSCs is still in its nascent stage. Findings are based on four themes of (1) why share information (mainly to gain market access), (2) what information is shared (price and market information) (3) how it is shared (still traditional communication, with limited adoption of digital technologies?) and (4) antecedents, drivers and barriers (technology adoption and socio-economic background of Africans).

This paper outlines a research agenda for advancing the theory on information sharing in AFSCs. Furthermore, the review highlights the importance of context, supply chain structure, relationships, product characteristics and culture in studying AFSCs.

A review on information sharing in African perishable AFSCs does not appear to exist in operations and supply chain management (O&SCM) and agribusiness journals.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what empirical evidence exists regarding benefits of information sharing in supply chains, and to identify potential gaps and opportunities in this research area.

The authors conducted an in-depth, systematic literature review and multilevel analysis of 82 selected articles. In the analysis, the authors investigated: whether the articles applied the supply chain as the unit of analysis; the selected research method; whether the articles applied the supply chain as the unit of data collection (i.e. collected data from three or more different companies); and finally, aspects of information sharing – including benefits.

Despite anecdotal descriptions of benefits from information sharing in supply chains, the authors could not find empirical evidence to support these claims. Rather, the main body of literature reports on a focal company's perspective on traditional buyer-supplier relationships.

Given the lack of evidence for the claimed benefits of information sharing on a supply chain level, more research is needed in this field. The authors therefore propose an agenda for future research building on four key points.

Contrary to popular belief, empirical evidence for benefits of information sharing in supply chains does not seem to exist. This article highlights an issue previously not addressed with a systematic in-depth review and analysis of empirical articles.

Drawing upon the knowledge sharing model, the purpose of this paper is to identify personal and environmental antecedents to information sharing on social networking sites (SNSs) and examines the interaction effects between the two factors.

Data were collected via online survey with college students. Hierarchical multiple regressions were performed to test hypotheses and examine research questions.

With regard to environmental factors, the more users perceive their audience to be a collection of weak ties, the more likely they are to share information on SNSs, independent of the size of their networks. Personal factors such as information self-efficacy, positive social outcome expectations, and sharing enjoyment feelings were found to be significant predictors of sharing activities. In addition, a significant interaction effect was found such that the effects of social outcome expectations on sharing activities on SNSs are manifested to a greater extent when users perceive their audience as weak ties rather than strong ties.

This study extends the knowledge sharing model literature by applying it to the SNS context and advances SNS research by taking into consideration both environmental factors and personal factors and their interactions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and performance consequences of voluntary information exchange between the production and sales functions.

Building on the motivation-opportunity-ability framework, the authors first posit a general model for bilateral information exchange across functional levels. The innovation presented in this model consists in allowing both sides of such an exchange (e.g. production-to-sales and sales-to-production) to differ in the perceived adequacy of information they receive. The two sides can also differ in terms of how their motivation and ability impact that adequacy. To test the model, the authors make use of survey responses and objective data from sales, production and executive managers of 182 Chinese manufacturers.

Analysis of the sample shows that the sales-to-production exchange has a smaller estimated performance effect than the production-to-sales exchange. Although shared opportunity is important in predicting both sides of the exchange, the measure of motivation appears to only significantly impact the sales-to-production exchange. In contrast, the measure of ability only appears to significantly affect the production-to-sales exchange.

Although limited to a regional context, differences in information-sharing drivers on the two sides of production-sales dyads pose strong implications that may be generalizable.

Specifically, these findings suggest alternative approaches and foci for resource investment that higher level managers can leverage in developing more effective cross-functional work settings.

This study differentiates itself from extant literature on information sharing by focusing on cross-functional (vs intra-functional) and voluntary (vs routine) information exchange.

This study was conducted to examine supply chain discontent in an integrative way.

The organisational economics view is adopted as an approach to reveal multiple sources of discontent which consist of incongruent objectives, disintegrated performance measures, unsynchronised decision‐making, information asymmetry, misaligned incentives, and fragmented business processes. All these sources separately or collectively contribute to reduce the potential of total profits arising from collaboration.

It is argued that to effectively mitigate supply chain discontent, the chain members need to collaboratively design antidotes for discontent. In this paper six antidotes to discontent are proposed, namely mutual strategic objectives, appropriate performance measures, decision synchronisation, information sharing, incentive alignment, and streamlined intercompany business processes. It also shows that previous studies have not addressed supply chain discontent in an integrative way.

This study, therefore, provides a new insight for managers to understand multiple sources of discontent as well as its antidotes.

This paper aims to fill a gap in the existing literature by answering the following question: is the effect of envy on people's intention to share information the same in offline settings and on online social networks?

Two studies demonstrate (1) how envy that results from upward social comparisons affects people's intention to share information and (2) the difference between online and offline settings.

The likelihood of sharing information susceptible of triggering envy is lower in online social networks than in an offline scenario.

In digital environments, feelings of envy depend on the number of social comparisons that the individual is exposed to.

This research recommends (1) incorporating tools that allow online social network users to feel part of their network's successes, (2) promoting offline diffusion of information and (3) encouraging people to play an active role when using online social networks.

Benefits can be derived from offering tools that permit receivers to take advantage of the selective self-presentation of other users. Such tools could have positive consequences for the welfare of online social network users.

To date, the literature has paid no attention to envy as an engine of information sharing. This aspect is especially relevant when discussing platforms whose main goal is precisely information sharing and that offer fertile ground for upward social comparisons.

Despite much research on supply chain (SC) integration and the growing emphasis on recent information technology advancements as an enabler of improved performance, there has been limited research focussed specifically on information integration in supply chains (SCs). The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the literature on information integration in the fresh food supply chain (FFSC) from a holistic perspective.

Literature review is done by systematically collecting and analysing the recent literature to identify various participant entities of the FFSC information network and their specific information needs.

The information needs of FFSC entities are diverse but the needs are common across multiple entities.

This study only reviewed the FFSC-related literature; an extended study of the food industry may reveal a more comprehensive view.

These findings are useful for practitioners in understanding the participant entities in the information network and their information needs and for policymakers in formulating FFSC development initiatives.

The authors are not aware of another study that investigates the FFSC in a holistic approach, one that identifies the actors, their interactions and information needs.

The purpose of this empirical study is to investigate extrinsic motivations that may affect adding or acknowledging user-generated content (UGC) on business websites, which are based on voluntary crowdsourcing.

A conceptual model of extrinsic motivations for knowledge sharing in UGC-based websites was developed, suggesting reciprocity, awareness of rewards and prestige as main extrinsic motivations for adding content. The model was examined via an online survey of users of three websites that varied in the attributes of knowledge shared and reward type: The Traveler (tangible rewards), Stack Overflow (virtual rewards) and Waze (virtual rewards).

Importance of extrinsic motivations varied among websites, as it may be affected by attributes of the knowledge shared. Reciprocity positively affected recommending the website, and adding content affected acknowledging content.

Investigating extrinsic motivations is important because websites may take actions that affect them. Further research is required to reveal the potential of voluntary crowdsourcing in business contexts addressing both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, prosumption and open innovation.

When reciprocity is a major aspect of a UGC website, badges and similar mechanisms may serve as a main extrinsic motivation to share knowledge.

The novel empirically validated model provides theoretical and practical insights for designing mechanisms for increasing extrinsic motivation for knowledge sharing according to specific characteristics of UGC websites.