Supply chain awareness: theoretical development and empirical test in the nonprofit context

Abstract

PurposeManagerial “awareness” of supply chain management (SCM) principles is a key antecedent of SCM adoption. However, supply chain awareness (SCA) provides fertile ground for further development. The authors combine extant research with the attention-based view of the firm to further develop SCA and theorize about its effect in an understudied context.Design/methodology/approachThe authors combine SCA with supply chain orientation, of which awareness is central. The authors combine qualitative and archival data for a 10-year period to test SCA in nonprofits. SCA was measured unobtrusively to avoid respondent bias; then, the authors explore how SCA relates to revenue generation from services provided.FindingsSCA correlates positively with revenue generation. Drawing on a contingency perspective, the authors test two moderators relevant to nonprofits. The positive effect of SCA on revenue is stronger for nonprofits collocated in cities with corporate headquarters but weaker for those with larger boards.Research limitations/implicationsThe study further advances the notion of awareness for studying SCM phenomena and provides evidence of its relevance in the unexamined context of human services nonprofit organizations (NPOs). This work has implications for how attention to SCM principles shapes organizational outcomes, the factors that moderate these relationships and the importance of unobtrusively measuring awareness in SCM research. The authors used WayBack Machine to harvest websites. However, the quality and depth of text obtained prior to 2008 were lower than those of later years. Additionally, archival data for NPOs are limited.Practical implicationsFindings inform about the fit between nonprofit resources, type of board and fit with how to fund operations. This research provides an alternative way for policy makers to assess NPO capacity by focusing on the fundamental SCM concepts.Social implicationsThe authors contribute to the dialogue about NPOs developing financial independence through revenue generation from services sold to end customers.Originality/valueNPOs are seldom studied in SCM. This is an attempt to study NPOs by combining qualitative and quantitative data.