Building the Case for A Single Key Informant in Supply Chain Management Survey Research

Published date01 January 2018
Date01 January 2018
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12159
BUILDING THE CASE FOR A SINGLE KEY INFORMANT IN
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SURVEY RESEARCH
DANIEL KRAUSE
Colorado State University
DAVIDE LUZZINI
EADA Business School
BENN LAWSON
University of Cambridge
Survey research is appropriate and necessary to address certain types of
research questions. In this paper, we acknowledge the ongoing debate
about survey research and focus specifically on examining the conditions
under which a study might validly utilize data provided by a single respon-
dent. To this end, we summarize the main challenges that survey research
in supply chain management faces when dealing with single respondents
and later argue that having multiple respondents does not necessarily rep-
resent a cure-all solution. Next, we discuss the concept of alignment in sur-
vey research and explore the characteristics of research questions that can
be addressed through single key informants. We conclude the paper by
suggesting that researchers should carefully consider the appropriateness
of single key informants in light of the type of research question and also
clearly support such choice when describing the method adopted.
Keywords: survey methods; alignment; single respondent; key informant
INTRODUCTION
The validity and reliability of survey research is of
increasing concern to the supply chain management
(SCM) and operations management (OM) research
communities. This concern may be linked, to a large
extent, to the renewed emphasis on methodological
rigor across top-ranked journals. Econometric and
modeling techniques have received increased empha-
sis in the field, while empirical methods like survey
research have struggled to maintain traction. Without
significantly entering the debate about this shift, we
believe there is a need to remind ourselves how to
make survey research as robust as practically possible,
especially when using a single key informant.
Survey research is appropriate and necessary for
answering certain types of research questions. Ker-
linger and Lee (2000) noted that “survey research
studies large and small populations (or universes) by
selecting and studying samples chosen from the popu-
lation to discover the relative incidence, distribution,
and interrelations of sociological and psychological
variables” (p. 599). Generalizability and theory testing
are often the primary goals of SCM and OM research-
ers when conducting survey research. However, like
any other research method, surveys have strengths
and shortcomings.
McGrath (1981), in his article “Dilemmatics: The
Study of Research Choices and Dilemmas,” argues that
precise measurement of actors’ behaviors, contextual
realism, and generalizability are desired research goals,
or as he calls them, conflicting desiderata. Whichever
methodology researchers choose to use will be a com-
promise, providing either precise measurement of actors’
behaviors, or contextual realism, or generalizability. One
of these goals can be met, while simultaneously falling
short on the other twodesired outcomes. Thus, McGrath
argues, “There is no such thing as flawless research!But:
Poor research is much worse than none at all” (p. 209).
As such, researchers need to accept and acknowledge the
shortcomings of their chosen research method. Over
time, through a program of research involving multiple
studies using different methods, the field of researchers
may be able to accomplish research that addresses these
three conflictingdesiderata.
Volume 54, Number 142
Journal of Supply Chain Management
2018, 54(1), 42–50
©2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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