Holistic versus analytic thinking orientation and its relationship to the bullwhip effect

Abstract

AbstractPrevious research has shown that decision‐makers contribute with individually varying intensity to the bullwhip effect, which refers to the amplification of demand variability along supply chains. This article examines whether differences in decision‐makers’ holistic versus analytic thinking orientation are related to these variations. The hypothesis is put forward that a stronger holistic thinking orientation is negatively correlated with the bullwhip effect. We also hypothesize that holistic thinkers report a higher use of information and that reported use of information is negatively correlated with the bullwhip effect. While no relationship was found between the overall thinking orientation and the bullwhip effect, a negative relationship was observed between one subdomain of the holistic versus analyic thinking orientation and the bullwhip effect. Furthermore, the results show that holistic thinking is not correlated with reported use of information and that only reported use of specific information is negatively related to the bullwhip effect. © 2022 The Authors. System Dynamics Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of System Dynamics Society.