Birds of a feather: The impact of race on the supplier selection and evaluation process

Abstract

Despite its recognized importance at the regulatory level, little attention has been paid to racial issues in the context of buyer-supplier relationships. To help address these limitations the current manuscript explores the impact of race in the supplier selection process. We used a scenario-based experiment approach across two studies conducted in the United States with 596 American buyer managers. Our findings indicate that the buyer's race and the supplier's race impact the buyer's decision of which supplier to select. Further, the race of the buyer's supervisor impacts the buyer's supplier selection decision. In addition, our findings show that the buyer's racial identity and racism also influence the buyer's perception of the severity of a supplier's service failure, and ultimately the buyer's level of satisfaction with the respective supplier.