Content analytic approach to measuring constructs in operations and supply chain management

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2010.08.001
• Author: Chanchai Tangpong
• Published date: 01 September 2011
• Date: 01 September 2011

Journal of Operations Management 29 (2011) 627–638

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Operations Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jom

Technical note

Content analytic approach to measuring constructs in operations and supply

chain management

Chanchai Tangpong∗

Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, Barry Hall, North Dakota State University, Department # 2420, PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050, USA

article info

Article history:

Received 9 November 2008

Received in revised form 29 July 2010

Accepted 6 August 2010

Available online 14 August 2010

Keywords:

Content analysis

Convergence study

Measurement

Research methodology

Operations

Supply chain management

abstract

This paper presents and illustrates the content analytic approach to measuring constructs in opera-

tions and supply chain management (OSCM). In this paper, a methodological review of OSCM empirical

research in 2002–2007 is provided to highlight that OSCM empirical studies, unlike those in other busi-

ness disciplines, have rarely used content analysis as a methodological tool. This paper then reviews

the methodological strengths of content analysis, which lie primarily in its malleability, economy of

data collection, repeatability, and unobtrusiveness. These strengths not only make content analysis a

viable empirical method but also position it as a method that can be used in concert with other empiri-

cal methods in OSCM research, such as survey, case study, and secondary research methodologies. This

paper also proposes a generic framework for a content analytic approach to measuring theoretical con-

structs, illustrates the application of the framework to a construct in the OSCM literature (buyer–supplier

relationalism), and reports the satisfactory results of reliability and validity tests for the content analysis-

based measure of buyer–supplier relationalism. In addition, this paper proposes and demonstrates that

the use of convergence study in tandem with content analysis can substantially reduce the content anal-

ysis efforts needed in measuring the construct of interest, thus improving the overall efficiency of the

process of content analysis.

© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In the past several years, scholars have increasingly used

empirical approaches in operations and supply chain manage-

ment (OSCM) research (Boyer and Swink, 2008; Scudder and Hill,

1998). Surveys and case studies have been the primary method-

ological tools propelling advancement in OSCM empirical research

(Amoako-Gyampah and Meredith, 1989; Gattiker and Parente,

2007; Pannirselvam et al., 1999). There is a growing consensus that

the use of multiple research methods (whether in one study or

across different studies on related topics) is critical to the devel-

opment of the OSCM field (Boyer and Swink, 2008; Singhal et

al., 2008) as different methodological approaches possess differ-

ent strengths and limitations (e.g., Babbie, 1995). Therefore, the

body of research that has applied multiple research methods is

less susceptible to systematically biased findings (Boyer and Swink,

2008). Content analysis is a research method that has been well

established in various fields of business and social science research

(Harwood and Garry, 2003; Morris, 1994); however, the use of

content analysis as an observational mode to collect data and oper-

∗Tel.: +1 701 231 9445; fax: +1 701 231 7508.

E-mail address: Charnchai.Tangpong@ndsu.edu.

ationalize constructs in OSCM research is rare (Montabon et al.,

2007).

Content analysis is a methodological technique that enables

researchers to systematically evaluate qualitative content in all

communication forms (e.g., writing, interview, news, reports, etc.)

and typically uses pre-established procedures and coding schemes

to systematically classify or categorize the communication con-

tent (e.g., Krippendorff, 2004a; Weber, 1990). Moreover, content

analysis allows researchers to convert qualitative/textual data into

a quantitative form, making them more amenable to statistical

analyses (Wolfe et al., 1993). While content analysis can be used

as a stand-alone method in a research study, it can also be used

in tandem with other methods such as survey research and case

study research, enhancing the validity of research findings through

triangulations (Flynn et al., 1990; Jick, 1979). As a large amount

of rich textual and qualitative data embedded in annual reports,

industry news reports, trade magazines, and other relevant reports

becomes widely accessible (Duriau et al., 2007), content analysis

can be another viable methodological approach to OSCM empirical

research. The primary purposes of this paper are (1) to propose

a generic framework that guides the use of a content analytic

approach to operationalizing and measuring a construct of interest;

(2) to demonstrate the application of the proposed framework on

a construct in the OSCM literature (buyer–supplier relationalism);

0272-6963/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.jom.2010.08.001