Cultural embeddedness in supply networks

• Date: 01 July 2015
• Author: Zhaohui Wu,Madeleine E. Pullman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2015.06.004
• Published date: 01 July 2015

Journal

of

Operations

Management

37

(2015)

45–58

Contents

lists

available

at

ScienceDirect

Journal

of

Operations

Management

j

o

ur

na

l

ho

mepage:

www.elsevier.com/locate

/jom

Cultural

embeddedness

in

supply

networks

Zhaohui

Wua,∗,

Madeleine

E.

Pullmanb

aOregon

State

University,

College

of

Business,

422

Austin

Hall,

Corvallis,

OR

97331-2603,

United

States

bPortland

State

University,

School

of

Business

Administration,

P.O.

Box

751,

Portland,

OR

97232-0751,

United

States

a

r

t

i

c

l

e

i

n

f

o

Article

history:

Received

27

May

2014

Received

in

revised

form

20

June

2015

Accepted

25

June

2015

Available

online

18

July

2015

Accepted

by

D.R.

Guide

Keywords:

Cultural

embeddedness

Supply

networks

Agricultural

cooperatives

Decision

making

Sustainability

Grounded

research

Country

Natural

Beef

a

b

s

t

r

a

c

t

Recent

studies

on

structural

and

relational

embeddedness

suggest

that

favorable

position

and

connec-

tions

in

supply

networks

benefit

a

firm.

While

fruitful,

this

focus

misses

the

motivations

that

prompt

firms

to

take

economic

action

in

the

first

place.

Understanding

cultural

embeddedness

provides

insight

into

why

individuals

and

firms

behave

as

they

do

and

how

their

behavior

can

influence

network

struc-

ture.

Contrary

to

the

belief

that

firms

act

solely

for

profit

and

growth,

we

note

that

cultural

contents

such

as

values,

social

issues

and

political

ideologies

explain

firms’

motives

and

guide

their

economic

activities.

We

explore

the

role

of

cultural

embeddedness

through

a

grounded

study

of

Country

Natural

Beef,

a

sustainability-oriented

agricultural

cooperative

in

the

western

United

States.

This

supply

network

demonstrates

strongly

competing

cultural

claims

among

its

members

as

well

as

a

unique

institutional-

ized

culture.

Cultural

interactions

at

the

node

and

network

levels

explain

the

functioning

of

and

changes

to

the

network.

Through

interviews,

analysis

of

archival

information

and

direct

observation

of

pivotal

events

over

a

period

of

5

years,

we

unpack

cultural

embeddedness

and

take

an

incremental

step

toward

a

theory

of

cultural

embeddedness

in

cooperative

supply

networks.

Published

by

Elsevier

B.V.

1.

Introduction

Institutional

theory

scholars

have

documented

the

emergence

of

social

enterprises

and

the

renaissance

of

agricultural

coopera-

tives

that

pursue

sustainability

and

community

development

(Mair

et

al.,

2012;

Schneiberg

et

al.,

2008;

Simons

and

Ingram,

1997).

Although

these

entities

must

compete

to

exist

in

a

capitalist

econ-

omy,

they

operate

with

objectives

beyond

efficiency

and

profit.

Given

the

growing

interest

in

and

importance

of

sustainability

and

economic

development,

we

argue

that

existing

supply

network

research

that

emphasizes

relational

and

structural

embeddedness

may

overlook

how

non-market

strategies

or

logics

can

motivate

economic

behavior

and

shape

the

structure

of

the

network.

DiMaggio

(1990)

proposes

that

individuals’

orientation

toward

economic

exchange

is

embedded

not

only

in

social

structure

but

also

in

culture,

which

is

manifested

as

beliefs,

norms,

and

at

a

deeper

level

of

cognition

as

logics

and

preconscious

habitus.

Apply-

ing

DiMaggio’s

proposition

to

supply

networks,

we

argue

that

the

study

of

relational

and

structural

embeddedness

looks

at

estab-

lished

networks

to

interpret

how

economic

benefits

accrue

to

firms

based

on

their

connections

and

positions

in

the

network.

They

do

∗Corresponding

author.

E-mail

addresses:

wuz@bus.oregonstate.edu

(Z.

Wu),

mpullman@pdx.edu

(M.E.

Pullman).

not

explain

why

firms

do

certain

things

in

the

first

place,

how

firms

get

where

they

are,

or

how

they

initiate

relational

and

structural

changes

in

the

network.

To

address

these

questions,

we

need

to

look

beyond

network

structures

and

relationships.

We

need

to

understand

how

firms

are

shaped

by

non-economic

institutions

(e.g.,

family,

religion,

govern-

ment)

and

culture.

This

study

takes

an

incremental

step

toward

such

an

understanding.

We

set

out

to

explore

cultural

embedded-

ness

and

its

effect

on

firms

and

associated

supply

networks.

We

seek

to

answer

the

following

research

questions:

How

does

the

cul-

tural

embeddedness

of

supply

network

members

influence

their

economic

behavior

and

that

of

the

network

itself?

More

specifi-

cally,

how

does

cultural

embeddedness

affect

the

functioning

and

structure

of

a

supply

network?

To

do

so,

we

carried

out

grounded

theory

research

in

an

agri-

cultural

cooperative.

Agricultural

cooperatives

provide

a

fitting

context

for

two

reasons.

First,

following

recent

developments

in

supply

chain

and

agricultural

economics

research,

we

consider

an

agricultural

cooperative

(co-op)

as

a

unique

form

of

supply

network,

comprising

independent

producers

coordinated

through

network

governance

(Karantininis,

2007;

Ménard,

2007;

Pathak

et

al.,

2014).

Second,

culture,

manifested

as

values,

ideology

and

logic,

plays

a

critical

role

in

the

formation

and

functioning

of

agri-

cultural

co-ops

(Hogeland,

2004;

Mazzarol

et

al.,

2014).

In

this

paper,

we

will

first

review

the

literature

of

culture,

cul-

tural

embeddedness

and

cooperative

as

a

form

of

supply

network.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2015.06.004

0272-6963/Published

by

Elsevier

B.V.