Supply Management Research Research Articles

The grey side of procurement: Measuring the prevalence of questionable purchasing practices

Buyer-supplier relationships may be exposed to ethically questionable purchasing practices. This can have major financial and reputational consequences for individuals and organisations. Various studies have assessed procurement professionals' ethical judgements regarding questionable purchasing practices and a handful have estimated the prevalence of these practices. The insights from these studies, however, cannot be straightforwardly extrapolated to today's practice. First, the studies have mostly estimated prevalence without controlling for social desirability bias. The estimation of the prevalence of questionable practices based on subjects' responses is non-trivial, as it may be prone to socially desirable response behaviour. Second, most of the studies were conducted decades ago and the role of the purchasing function has changed significantly ever since. Based on these observations, the present study makes two main contributions to the literature. First, it methodologically extends extant studies by estimating the prevalence of questionable purchasing practices in Europe while controlling for social desirability bias. Specifically, the present study applies the recently developed Extended Crosswise Model to test for socially desirable answers and presents these prevalence estimates in comparison to estimates obtained via a direct questioning technique. The findings highlight the ongoing prevalence of unethical practices in buyer-supplier relationships and the need for organisations to be vigilant in addressing them. Post-hoc analyses indicate that gender, work experience, perceived levels of public sector corruption, and governmental procurement agreements affect the involvement in questionable purchasing practices. Second, the present study examines how earlier and newly identified questionable practices are perceived in the current business environment. The results suggest that ethical perceptions have changed and that most unethical practices are observed in supplier selection. From a theoretical perspective, the present study responds to both the call to further investigate ethical issues in supply chains (Quarshie et al., 2016) and the call to address social desirability bias in purchasing and supply management research (Ried et al., 2022). From a managerial perspective, our research can serve as a starting point for organisations to develop strategies to mitigate their impact and promote ethical behaviour throughout the purchasing process.

Text mining and network analytics for literature reviews: Exploring the landscape of purchasing and supply management research

In this paper, we state and debate the use and usefulness of text similarity and network analytics using natural language processing for our field. While previous reviews of Purchasing and Supply Management have relied on manual coding and classification, the large scale and variety of the field calls for new approaches. In this Notes and Debates article, we therefore review different approaches from bibliometric and scientometric studies to explore literature using (semi)automated approaches. We exemplify one approach, leveraging text similarity and network visualization, to complement earlier analysis. Along the way, we discuss the researcher’s role at critical vantage points in reviews that are augmented by natural language processing. We compare and contrast the results of this exploration to previous manual reviews and sketch opportunities and provide recommendations for future use.

Critical incidents and supplier satisfaction - investigating tipping points in a seller’s market

PurposeThe main purpose of this research is exploring the tipping points for a radical shift in supplier (dis)satisfaction. This study identifies triggers and links them to consequences for the buyer–supplier relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used to interview Dutch supplier representatives in the infrastructure sector, resulting in rich descriptions of 29 critical incidents, extracting first-hand information.FindingsSafety issues, technical disputes and recruitment of supplier’s technical staff have been identified as tipping points for suppliers to become dissatisfied. Implementing performance-based contracting is another critical incident that caused irritation and disappointment. On a more operational level, dissatisfaction was provoked by tender errors and price discussions with the buyer. This study also identified tipping points by which dissatisfied suppliers abruptly turned into satisfied suppliers. The effect of a solution-oriented buyer intervention appears to be most powerful if this behaviour transcends prior expectations.Practical implicationsConsequences of misunderstandings and discussion between supplier and buyer may be manageable or repairable, depending on the causes and triggers that influenced a supplier’s dissatisfaction. An early warning system could prove its worth, so that buyers are not faced with unpleasant surprises.Originality/valueDespite the growing number of studies, processes of how antecedents lead to supplier (dis)satisfaction are not well understood. Antecedents are predominantly investigated by cross-sectional survey data, giving little insights into micro-processes and actual interaction between buyers and suppliers. Although CIT has been applied in many disciplines, the technique is hardly used within the context of purchasing and supply management research.

Econometrics and archival data: Reflections for purchasing and supply management (PSM) research

Purchasing and supply management (PSM) has faced unprecedented disruption over the past two years due to COVID-19 pandemic, input shortages, extended supplier lead times, record international transportation costs, and commodity price increases. Studying such phenomena is often best completed using archival data, such as data from government agencies or international organizations. This manuscript emphasizes how leveraging archival data often necessitates an iterative research process whereby researchers must first familiarize themselves with the data to ensure their scientific hypotheses can be appropriately tested. We further provide recommendations regarding how researchers should formulate generalized linear models (GLMs) to test theoretical predictions. Our approach emphasizes mapping scientific hypotheses to statistical hypotheses, as opposed to centering on issues of omitted variable bias (OVB). An illustrative example is provided where Census Bureau trade data are compiled to test whether the insurance and freight costs for waterborne containerized imports from Asian nations that enter through West Coast ports have risen more than the same products imported through East Coast ports. The research suggests the need to reorient how GLMs are formulated to better ensure researchers structure them to appropriately test their theory, in contrast to the current zeitgeist that overly emphasizes OVB.

Social desirability bias in PSM surveys and behavioral experiments: Considerations for design development and data collection

Social desirability issues are long known, but not long gone. Across major purchasing and supply management (PSM) research streams, surprisingly few empirical studies explicitly address social desirability bias (SDB), despite SDB constituting a potentially limiting factor. With regard to surveys and behavioral experiments as two of the most widely used empirical methods in PSM, SDB can represent a critical issue. A first step should therefore be to collect and fully report data on SDB in all such studies. The present note then continues by providing an overview of methodological considerations for PSM researchers to mitigate social desirability issues before they arise in their surveys and behavioral experiments. We describe eight potential mitigation approaches, namely disguising the study's research purpose, assuring anonymity and confidentiality, indirect questioning, adapting the wording of single items, broadening response modes, conducting preparatory cognitive interviews, using multiple sources, and applying multiple research methods. In describing this repertoire of preventive measures, we point authors and review teams to both the broader methodological literature and PSM studies that have used such approaches.

Reflecting on the past 25 years of the journal of purchasing and supply management: The editors′ perspectives

Purchasing and supply management scholarship and practice has significantly evolved during the past 25 years. In parallel, the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management has likewise emerged from its origins as the European Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management as an important source for publishing purchasing and supply management research. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide the journal's current and future readership a historical perspective of how the journal has evolved during the last quarter century from the viewpoints of its current and former editors, and where we believe the future of purchasing and supply management is going as an academic discipline.

Engaged Scholar(ship) in purchasing and supply management (PSM): Creative tension or squeezed in the middle?

Purchasing and supply management research influences practice through the advancement of knowledge and theoretical principles and is positioned as an academic discipline. For the individual researcher, it calls for skills and experience that can be associated with engaged scholarship. This paper explores tensions inherent in engaged scholarship, that arise during the quest to interact closely with professionals to ensure relevance and impact while living up to research quality criteria. The paper concludes that the individual researcher in a field such as PSM is easily left with guidelines that point in multiple directions regarding personal achievement and institutional merits.

Purchasing and supply management in an industrial marketing perspective

This paper reflects on purchasing & supply management (PSM) research in an industrial marketing perspective, using Industrial Marketing Management (IMM) as a proxy. A systematic review of IMM papers is conducted, demonstrating that a large and growing number of PSM papers have been published in IMM and that a large proportion of these rely on the IMP Interaction Approach as theoretical perspective. The paper discusses themes of PSM research and proposes three avenues of future PSM research for industrial marketing scholars: 1) theorizing on the concept of supply networks, 2) revisiting the notion of managing supply networks and 3) debating established “best practices” in PSM.The proposal is therefore to dedicate more research to develop further theory on supply networks and how to manage within supply networks, because there is a surprising lack of conceptual clarity as to the meaning of supply networks and the notion of managing supply networks. The paper argues that as increasing supply network complexity and risks, especially concerning sustainability, requires new thinking about how best to influence and manage supply networks.

Purchasing category management: providing integration between purchasing and other business functions

Organising the purchasing and supply management (PSM) function has been changing due to the increasingly strategic role of the function requiring integration with other business functions and the entire supply chain. One solution is to organise PSM into categories, a common practice in today's manufacturing organisations. In this paper we explore how purchasing category management (PCM) affects cross-functional integration. We analysed purchasing category management practices through in-depth case-studies in four manufacturing firms in two types of industry. Our research contributes to the purchasing and supply management research in two ways. First, it addresses the role of purchasing category management in organising PSM in large manufacturing companies. Second, it elaborates on purchasing categories providing integration between purchasing and other business functions, suggesting how different mechanisms are needed for different contexts.

Conducting multilevel studies in purchasing and supply management research

Purchasing and supply management (PSM) research commonly covers multiple levels of theory and analysis. The theorizing and simultaneous testing of hypotheses across multiple levels is referred to as multilevel analysis (MLA) and is commonly performed using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Researchers in the PSM domain have paid little attention thus far to the topic of multilevel studies. Although MLA holds the potential to yield novel insights into PSM issues, it also generates new challenges for authors and reviewers alike. We contribute to this methodological dialogue by examining reasons for conducting multilevel PSM research and offering practical guidance for increasing its methodological rigor.

Co-alignment of supplier quality management practices and cognitive maps – A neo-configurational perspective

Much of the previous research on the ‘purchasing practice–performance link’ rests on the notion of “net effects,” which assumes that specific practices independently of each other impact outcomes. This study challenges this core tenet by adopting a neo-configurational perspective, exploring how different combinations of factors (called “configurations”) affect outcomes. Another limitation of extant studies on the ‘purchasing practice–performance link’ is the narrow focus on practices; more recent behavioral supply management research finds the behavior of managers to be critically influenced by cognitive maps—the lenses through which managers perceive, simplify, and interpret the world. Focusing on supplier quality as a core aspect of the broader ‘purchasing practice–performance link’, this study explores how configurations of different supplier quality management (SQM) practices and SQM-related cognitive maps help firms to manage supplier quality. It uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify SQM configurations and a cognitive-linguistic approach for the computerized text analysis of purchasing managers’ cognitive maps in the context of Western companies sourcing from Chinese suppliers. The configurational fsQCA analysis identifies four different configurations associated with overcoming barriers to SQM in emerging markets. SQM-related cognitive maps prove to be a critical component in these four configurations.

The use of secondary data in purchasing and supply management (P/SM) research

The use of secondary data, data that has been gathered for another purpose but may be suitable for research, is growing in relevance and importance in purchasing and supply management research. This paper presents issues associated with using secondary data as a principal source of data or as supplemental to other data or methods. As editors increasingly call for multiple data sources in research publications, secondary data become even more relevant. Secondary data have many benefits, and some secondary data sets are well established and highly credible. The authors describe some of the ways that secondary data has been used in purchasing and supply management research, as well as some of the sources of data. Secondary data does have its limitations, ranging from bias in collection and reporting to difficulty in identifying and accessing appropriate sources of secondary data to dealing with its predominantly unstructured nature. Suggestions for improving the reliability and validity of secondary data are provided, as well advice for dealing with big data.

Using manifest content analysis in purchasing and supply management research

Much of the data relevant to study modern organizations is textual and qualitative in nature. With advances in computerized text analysis that enable researchers to collect and analyze large amounts of textual data, there are opportunities to address new research questions or old questions in new ways. This essay describes the use of manifest or computerized content analysis to study research questions in purchasing and supply management. The essay explores why manifest content analysis is needed to study current problems in purchasing and supply management, and discusses issues of methodological rigor, especially in the context of large data sets.

Experiments in purchasing and supply management research

In this article, I provide a brief introduction to the use of experiments in purchasing and supply management research. Different types of experiments common within the field are introduced, and within these types I compare the strengths and weaknesses regarding reliability and validity concerns and the limitations surrounding participant pools. Topics for which experimentation is appropriate and useful are identified, and examples of recent work in the field provided. Several trends and future research opportunities are presented to inspire more work in this arena.

When are contracts and trust necessary for innovation in buyer-supplier relationships? A Necessary Condition Analysis

Main stream research predominantly views contracts as being sufficient for (i.e., driving) performance. In contrast, necessity-thinking implies that contracts allow performance to exist: if the necessary condition is not in place (at the right level), the desired performance will not occur, irrespective of other drivers of performance. Statements implying necessity are common in supply management research; yet, to date, an appropriate tool for testing such statements has been lacking. This article makes the case for the newly developed Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) method, and applies it to data on forty-eight buyer-supplier service outsourcing relationships to explore the necessity of contracts for a specific relationship outcome, i.e., supplier-led innovation. Also, the necessity of trust is explored, as contracts are implemented within a broader context that involves social characteristics of relationships. The results show that successful relationships, i.e., relationships that have high levels of innovation (as observed in the top ten percent of the relationships studied) must necessarily have contracts with at least medium levels of contractual detail, as well as the highest levels of trust. In relationships with low levels of innovation (i.e., innovation levels that can be achieved by about half of the relationships), neither of the conditions (i.e., contracts and trust) is necessary. As such, applying NCA results in a fundamentally different understanding of the relationship between innovation, and contracts and trust. The results indicate that managers should first ensure the right levels of these necessary conditions, before giving attention to other factors that (on average) produce innovation.

Consensus on supplier selection objectives in cross-functional sourcing teams

Purpose– A key driver of procurement effectiveness is the alignment of the procurement function with interlinked functions, such as R & D, engineering, production, and marketing. In the strategic management literature, the degree of alignment of individual team members on strategic objectives is termed “consensus.” The purpose of this paper is to investigate antecedents of consensus on objectives in cross-functional sourcing teams, the relationship between the degree of consensus and supplier performance, and moderators of the consensus-performance relationship. To do so, it ties strategic management literature to SCM and supplier selection research. As a result of these investigations, this research holistically introduces the concept of consensus to the discipline.Design/methodology/approach– The study analyzes a sample of 88 sourcing teams (233 team members) from three manufacturing companies using regression analysis and moderated regressions.Findings– Consensus on objectives for supplier selection among sourcing team members is positively related to the selection of higher performing suppliers. Sourcing team member experience is positively related to the level of consensus, and formalization of the selection process positively moderates the consensus-performance relationship. Team demographic diversity does not affect consensus among team members or supplier selection effectiveness.Research limitations/implications– This study investigates consensus on objectives as a state within the sourcing team; it does not analyze how decision-making processes unfold in situations of low- or high-initial consensus among sourcing team members.Practical implications– This paper provides insights into the drivers and effects of consensus on objectives and formalization of supplier selection in cross-functional setups.Originality/value– This research addresses a gap in the SCM literature by investigating the role of consensus on objectives and thereby contributes to a better understanding of cross-functional sourcing team setups and effectiveness. The study introduces a key construct from the strategic management literature to supply management research, and empirical evidence shows how consensus can improve supplier selection performance.

The character and significance of Nordic purchasing and supply management research: A systematic review of the literature

This paper evaluates the character and significance of Nordic contributions to purchasing and supply management (PSM) research. The paper is based on a systematic analysis of the literature, focusing on the contributions of authors with a Nordic affiliation to PSM. We seek to identify the themes in focus of Nordic PSM research, the research methods and theories that are typically employed; ultimately we discuss if a Nordic PSM school of thought or approach can be discerned and evaluate if or in which areas Nordic PSM research has made significant impact. We conclude the paper by outlining and discussing important future avenues of research for Nordic research in PSM.

Assessing the use of External Grand Theories in Purchasing and Supply Management research

The paper examines the extant management literature on Purchasing and Supply Management (PSM) to assess the underpinning role of External Grand Theories (EGTs) – i.e., established theories drawn from other areas of economics, management and other social sciences. We perform an extensive and systematic literature review of 1055 papers in the 20 top management journals for the time period 2002–2010, bypassing a keyword search in favour of a complete scanning of a total of 14,943 articles. Results show an analysis and classification of the most commonly used EGTs borrowed to underpin research on PSM. We also match research topics, methodologies and unit of analysis with EGTs. Finally, we investigate what is the nature of the research – exploratory, theory building and theory testing – supported by EGTs. Analyses find PSM to be poorly rooted in EGTs, which confirms PSM relatively lower theoretical maturity when compared with other disciplines. Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource Based View prove to be the most frequently adopted frameworks. Other theories emerge as interesting opportunities in combination with specific topics and methodologies.

The Future of Purchasing and Supply Management Research: About Relevance and Rigor

The Journal of Supply Chain Management (JSCM) is a hallmark in the academic field of operations and supply chain management. During the past 50 years, it has contributed substantially to the recognition and adoption of purchasing and supply management (PSM) as an academic and strategic business domain. Having been invited by the JSCM editors to provide some ideas on the future directions of PSM research, the authors discuss what can be done to further increase both its relevance and rigor. Rigor and relevance in academic research are interconnected. To improve its relevance, the authors argue that future PSM research should better reflect the strategic priorities raised in the contemporary strategic management literature. Next, future PSM research should be much better embedded in a limited number of management theories. Here, stakeholder theory, network theory, the resource‐based view of the firm, dynamic capabilities theory, and the relational view could be considered as interesting candidates. Rigor is connected with robustness of academic research designs and projects. To foster its rigor, future PSM research should allow for an increase in the number of replication studies, longitudinal studies, and meta‐analytical studies. Future PSM research designs should reflect a careful distinction between informants and respondents and a careful sample selection. When discussing the results of quantitative studies, future PSM research should report on effect sizes and confidence intervals, rather than p‐values. Adoption of these ideas would have some important implications for both the academic PSM community and academic journal editors.

The impact of individual debiasing efforts on financial decision effectiveness in the supplier selection process

PurposeThe nascent behavioral supply management (BSM) research stream has raised the level of attention given to deviations from the standard assumptions of the rational paradigm in economics. The adaptation of cognitive heuristics, which add vulnerability to judgment and decision making, creates a pressing need to identify and develop mitigation strategies to debias decision making in the supply chain management environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate debiasing measures, corresponding contextual variables in the supplier selection process, and their implications for financial decision effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a large‐scale empirical survey among 306 buyers to investigate the relationships among individual and organizational contextual factors, debiasing measures in the supplier selection decision, and the financial effectiveness of the supplier selection decision.FindingsIt was found that organizational and individual contextual factors have differing effects on the use of debiasing approaches in the supplier selection decision. Further, the debiasing tactics can have a positive (in the case of supplier selection task decomposing) or a negative (in the case of an interactional challenging of the supplier selection) impact on the financial effectiveness of the supplier selection decision. These findings suggest that supply managers must better understand the contextual factors that influence the supplier selection decision, and carefully choose the correct debiasing tactics when selecting suppliers.Originality/valueThis paper relaxes the economic assumption of rational actors and addresses the need to identify and use debiasing tactics in supply chain management contexts. The research also complements the broader‐based behavioral decision‐making literature, which has often relied upon experimental methodologies that use undergraduate or MBA students, by employing a survey‐based approach with supply managers as key informants.