Supplier satisfaction: Conceptual basics and explorative findings

Abstract

In the past, supplier satisfaction has not been a major topic of interest within purchasing and industrial management from either a practitioner or an academic point of view. Yet, successfully managing buyer–supplier relationships is difficult without taking the supplier's satisfaction into account. Consequently, analysing supplier satisfaction should take into account interaction processes within buyer–supplier relationships (e.g., exchange of information) as well as the atmosphere within these relationships (e.g., power dependence). This paper aims to explore the construct of supplier satisfaction as a factor of buyer–supplier relationship quality. Supplier satisfaction is defined as a supplier's feeling of fairness with regard to buyer's incentives and supplier's contributions within an industrial buyer–seller relationship. Supplier satisfaction as a complex construct is operationalised through an index, and its determinants are measured using a survey.