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The fear of receiving a bid protest is said to affect acquisition strategies, yet it has not been empirically explored. Based on the Public Value Framework and interviews with contracting personnel, this research tests a model of antecedents to and consequences of the fear of a protest. Survey data was obtained from a sample of 350 contracting personnel. The fear of protest is mitigated by having sufficient procurement lead time and by source selection experience, and increased by protest risk. Fear of protest increases compromised technical evaluations, added procurement lead time, and transaction costs, while it decreases contracting officer authority and is associated with source selection method inappropriateness. Compromised technical evaluations, in turn, decrease contractor performance while contracting officer authority increases contractor performance. Thus, findings suggest that, indeed, the tail is wagging the dog. The research concludes with several managerial implications, study limitations and future research directions.

The purpose of this paper is to contrast two lay theories of how consumers draw affective inferences about their online bidding experiences. The active-bidder theory (smart-bidder theory) predicts that after winning a bid, highly (minimally) participative bidders would be more satisfied than minimally (highly) participative bidders.

Four experiments test two competing hypotheses, the active-bidder hypothesis and the smart-bidder hypothesis (Study 1), identify a condition that mitigates the observed effects (Study 2), identify when the mitigation is effective or ineffective (Study 3) and replicate the findings in a scenario-based study where participants are allowed to make actual bidding decisions (Studies 4A and 4B).

The findings support the smart-bidder hypothesis across three different product categories; however, this heuristic-driven effect is absent when bidders have concrete shopping goals. The effect was sufficiently robust to be observed even when the bids are made at will.

The present research does not incorporate the widely adopted procedure of second-price auction (also known as proxy bidding in the eBay setting), a system that allows the highest bidder to win the auction but pay the amount of the second-highest bid.

Online consumers should be mindful that entering the minimum number of bids not only helps consumers avoid overbidding but also elevates their joy in winning after the auction ends.

Prior research on bidding behavior on online auction sites has yet to examine how different bidding dynamics affect consumers’ post-auction satisfaction. This research sheds light on the psychological process underlying the robust phenomenon: online auction consumers rely heavily on proxy signals. Bidders appear to use the efficiency heuristic in constructing their affective judgments of their buying experiences.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the effectiveness of buyers’ defensive measures to thwart bid protests in government procurements.

A sample of 240 sourcing professionals concerning government source selections is used to analyze a logistic regression model exploring 6 antecedents of bid protests.

This research implicates the importance of oral presentations of offers, the type of value procured (i.e. services), protest experience, the quantity of document revisions, transaction costs and cost reimbursement contracts in receiving a bid protest.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to explore sourcing strategy decisions that can contribute to the receipt of a bid protest. It adds clarity to an understudied market of business – the public sector.

Militaries face increasing budget pressures, high operations tempos, a blitzing pace of technology, and adversaries that often meet or beat government capabilities using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies. The integration of COTS products into defense systems has been offered to help meet these challenges, yet such integration suffers mixed results. The purpose of this paper is to offer a knowledge-based conceptual framework for understanding COTS technology integration in the defense sector.

A literature review of 62 sources was conducted with the objectives of identifying antecedents (barriers and facilitators) and consequences of COTS adoption.

Research implicates the importance of knowledge management to successful COTS integration. COTS appropriateness should be gauged, and it is impacted by 14 enabling and five deterrent factors.

The conceptual framework of COTS technology usage enhances understanding of COTS performance. The framework and its propositions should focus, and thus, stimulate increased future research of COTS performance. Limitations common to qualitative methods are disclosed.

By identifying factors that shape COTS appropriateness, practitioners know the factors to manage to hedge toward successful COTS integration. Managers should be aware of the importance of market knowledge for defense COTS innovation, especially for commercial companies that work as system integrators. COTS integrators need to better manage the lessons learned from COTS integration programs.

This research is the first to develop a conceptual framework of COTS product usage and a scale to measure COTS product appropriateness.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a sourcing professional arrives at a decision to use an electronic reverse auction (eRA) to source a particular requirement by examining eRA appropriateness.

Past eRA research findings are synthesized into a summary table. From a comprehensive review of the literature, theories of technology adoption, social influence, referent‐dependence theory, and planned behaviour are discussed and synthesized into a model that explains the antecedents of eRA appropriateness. A case study methodology using structured interviews resulted in a refined model that sheds light on some of the controversial findings regarding electronic reverse auction appropriateness.

Expected savings, buyer confidence, and prior eRA sourcing satisfaction are identified as new constructs that help explain the decision to source via eRAs. Additionally, perceived eRA appropriateness is proposed as a new construct that mediates the influence of external, strategy factors on the decision to source via eRAs.

Recent literature suggests that the benefits of reverse auctions are overstated and reverse auctions constitute a fundamentally coercive use of buyer power. Reconciling the conflicting supplier perceptions of reverse auctions as use of coercive power with buyer perceptions of cost savings requires an explanation for the factors that lead to the decision to source via eRAs.

The modern competitive supply chain environment entices businesses to explore all avenues for cost savings. Explaining the drivers of reverse auction use illuminates the advantages and pitfalls of reverse auctions as a strategic sourcing venue.

From an extensive review of the eRA literature and eight case studies, the authors propose a model that integrates and extends previous eRA research. Key insights from the model are the mediating effect of perceived eRA appropriateness and the integration of individual level variables with the strategic decision to source via eRA. Additionally, a table is provided summarizing the findings from relevant eRA research that reveals key insights into the phenomenon.

There presently is no comprehensive review which systematizes and summarizes the burgeoning body of logistics educational literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guide for both educators and practitioners to assess the history, current status, and future trends in logistics education in order to nurture advancement in logistics education.

This paper draws its conclusions based upon a literature review and categorizes the evolution of logistics education into three areas: defining curriculum, developing content and skills taught, and refining teaching methods.

Logistics education continues to benefit from strong ties to industry. Additionally, four principle macro‐environmental factors were discovered that impact the current status of logistics education: an increase in the number of logistics educational programs, limited supply of logistics‐trained faculty, changes to content requirements, and a changing teaching environment. Future research directions from the published literature are summarized.

As current logistics programs continue to evolve and the number of logistics and supply chain management programs continue to increase in response to industry demand, this comprehensive review of the logistics literature may help serve as a benchmark for past and current practices in logistics education.

The early partnership between industry and education set the stage to help guide educators to evolve logistics education to address practitioner needs. Increased interest in logistics education and changing environmental factors suggest the need for continued collaboration to further logistics education.

The literature demonstrates successful dynamic behavior in response to dynamic industries. It highlights factors which may drive further evolution of logistics education and proposes areas impacted.

The purpose of this paper is to show that following from the premise that knowledge comprises the fundamental source of competitive advantage, this study provides results of a meta‐analysis that examines whether and how alliance performance is influenced by the role knowledge plays in a strategic alliance.

Meta‐analysis is employed as the driving methodology in this study. The meta‐analysis approach permits the literature on interfirm knowledge management to be reviewed and synthesized such that the role of knowledge in the alliance, environmental risk, and alliance performance can be thoroughly and validly investigated.

The findings suggest that the level of risk associated with the environment in which the alliance partners join forces does not moderate the relationship between the various “roles” of knowledge and alliance performance, whereas the magnitude and type of interfirm cohesiveness enjoyed or endured by the alliance participants does materially impact alliance performance. These performance differences suggest that – when the subject is alliance performance – knowledge management strategies matter more than environmental factors.

The environmental uncertainty construct proved the biggest surprise, given conventional views that alliances should prove more effective in turbulent environments. However, implications are limited by observations that suggest the current alliance literature lacks well‐developed and corroborated knowledge and performance constructs. This, in turn, implies researchers should systematically assess the validity of extant knowledge and performance measures.

The observed positive relationship between increased levels of knowledge interchange, alliance cohesion, and alliance performance is a materially practical implication. This was especially true within industries that are inherently more dependent on vertical supplier or buyer relationships, such as manufacturing and services. Active interfirm knowledge management appears to contribute more to alliance performance than environmental factors.

This paper describes the first study to meta‐analyze the role and influence of knowledge constructs within the alliance literature. As such, the results empirically confirm some presumed conventional wisdoms while calling others into question.

Small businesses are critical to economic health and encouraged in government spending by set-asides – annual small business sourcing goals that often are not attained. Little research has explored the negative and risky stigmas associated with small business sourcing.

This research explores reduced transaction costs of small business sourcing to government buyers. A survey of 350 government source selections reveals lower transaction costs derived from lower perceived risk of receiving a bid protest and via more efficient source selection processes.

Contrary to common bias, the performance level of small businesses is no less than that of large business. Thus, small businesses engender lower transaction costs for correcting supplier’s performance. On the basis of these findings, managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.