Title

Supply Chain Information and Relational Alignment: Mediators of EDI on Firm Performance

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Publication Title

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Publisher

Emerald

Volume

40

Issue

5

First page number:

377

Last page number:

394

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of inter-organization information exchange on supply chain information and relational alignment. Drawing on literature on information systems, supply chain management, and logistics, the paper aims to present a multidimensional framework for considering electronic data interchange (EDI) adoption in supplier management and its effect on information and relational alignment.

Design/methodology/approach – Theories drawn from resource-dependent and transaction cost economics, and the resource-based view of the firm were used to establish hypotheses. Structural equation modeling using survey data of manufacturing firms was used to test the hypotheses and research model.

Findings – Results support the central premise that firms must consider EDI adoption in supplier management to improve information and relational alignment between supply chain partners. It is through this alignment that firms achieve superior performance.

Research limitations/implications – This study used a single respondent from each firm due to cost considerations, and hence might have affected the inter-rater reliability of the survey data.

Practical implications – Results show that firms should consider EDI adoption in supplier management because of its positive effect on information and relational alignment, which in turn impacts firm performance. However, EDI does not affect performance directly.

Originality/value – The role of EDI adoption in supplier management was examined and shown to indirectly affect firm performance via improved information and relational alignment. Moreover, supply chain information alignment was found to enhance relational alignment among supply chain partners.

Keywords

Business logistics; Communication; Company performance; Competition; Competition; International; Electronic data interchange; Information exchange; Information storage and retrieval systems; International business enterprises; Logistics; Management information systems; Product life cycle; Supply chain management; Value added

Disciplines

Business | Communication | International Business | Operations and Supply Chain Management | Organizational Communication

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

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