Abstract
This study investigates how knowledge diffusion occurs in a globally dispersed supply network, wherein buying firms and suppliers often do not have strong relationships and competitive tensions prevail. We elaborate the Network of Practice (NoP) view by examining a global supply network in the food sector that is as an exemplar of high global dispersion. This paper provides several novel insights into global knowledge diffusion. We introduce the NoP concept of homophily into the field of supply chain management to explain knowledge diffusion within global supply networks. We take a longitudinal perspective to show that although prior contractual ties (relational homophily) and co‐location (location homophily) initially drive knowledge diffusion, in the long‐term, shared practices (practice homophily) are the principal driver of knowledge diffusion. We demonstrate that buying firms’ assurance of procedural justice, together with the predominance of geographically dispersed suppliers and the emergence of nexus members, can help dampen supplier resistance to knowledge diffusion. The study shows that knowledge diffusion in a global supply NoP occurs in two complementary forms—broadcasting forums and action groups—which vary in breadth, depth, and tie diversity. Ultimately, we present vertical (buyer‐supplier), horizontal (suppliersupplier), and diagonal (non‐competitive) relationships as important refinements of the NoP view that characterize a global supply NoP. Overall, our findings offer a path for buying firms to establish adequate online infrastructure to support the emergence of decentralized and self‐organized knowledge diffusion in a globally dispersed supply network.
Highlights
Knowledge is a strategic resource, and the ability to diffuse knowledge within supply networks is a strategic supply network capability (Dyer & Nobeoka, 2000)
This study builds on recent scholarship and asks the research question (RQ): how does knowledge diffusion occur across weak ties in a globally dispersed supply network? To answer the above question, we elaborate the diffusion branch of social network theory; we investigate the Network of Practice (NoP) view, which was originally developed in an intra-organizational context (Brown & Duguid, 2001)
We develop a model of a global supply NoP, which captures the processes through which knowledge is diffused across a globally dispersed, multi-tiered supply network that combines a wide variety of types of ties between a buying firm, its direct and indirect suppliers, and non-supply-chain members, including vertical buyer-supplier relationships, horizontal supplier-supplier relationships, and diagonal non-competitive relationships
Summary
Knowledge is a strategic resource, and the ability to diffuse knowledge within supply networks is a strategic supply network capability (Dyer & Nobeoka, 2000). Recent scholarship within supply chain management (SCM) has indicated that weakly-tied members in a supply network may be able to transcend the limitations of their arm’s length relationships and work together collaboratively on a short-term basis (Kim & Choi, 2015) This possibility increases the plausibility of knowledge diffusion in a globally dispersed supply network.it is not well understood how such an environment facilitates or inhibits knowledge diffusion. This study utilized a large number of data processes and required multiple steps to reach the final results; it involved an innovative mix of qualitative data analysis and social network analysis (SNA) in a network-level case study To offer transparency this supplement provides a case study timeline, offering readers a longitudinal perspective of how the research was conducted. In Phase 3, we finished the data collection, which resulted in a total of 24 months of forum data In this phase, we developed second-order codes and conducted final SNA analysis. Figure DS1 below synthesizes the workflow of our data analysis and theory elaboration phases
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