The effects of supplier‐to‐buyer identification on operational performance—An empirical investigation of inter‐organizational identification in automotive relationships

• Date: 01 September 2011
• Published date: 01 September 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2010.10.002
• Author: Thomas Gruen,Daniel Corsten,Marion Peyinghaus

Journal of Operations Management 29 (2011) 549–560

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Operations Management

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

The effects of supplier-to-buyer identification on operational performance—An

empirical investigation of inter-organizational identification in automotive

relationships

Daniel Corstena,∗, Thomas Gruen b, Marion Peyinghausc

aIE Business School, Madrid, Spain

bUniversity of Colorado, Colorado Springs, United States

cpom+International, Zurich, Switzerland

article info

Article history:

Received 18 January 2007

Received in revised form 11 October 2010

Accepted 24 October 2010

Available online 18 November 2010

Keywords:

Operations strategy

Social identity theory

Buyer–supplier relationships

Trust

Information exchange

Relation-specific investments

Operational performance

Empirical research

Survey

Automotive

abstract

Over the past decade conceptual and empirical research in operations management has embraced the

idea that collaborative supplier–buyer relationships are a source of competitive advantage for manufac-

turing firms. Anecdotal evidence from the Japanese and U.S. automotive industry and emerging research

suggests that inter-organizational identification of suppliers with their buyers, termed supplier-to-buyer

identification, is an unexplored factor of relational advantage. This study presents a model and empirical

test that supplier-to-buyer identification fosters superior operational performance by enhancing trust,

supplier relation-specific investments, and information exchange. Through a survey of 346 automotive

supplier–buyer relationships, the findings show that supplier-to-buyer identification directly impacts

supplier relationship-specific investments and information exchange, although most of the latter effect

is mediated by trust. The findings also indicate that supplier relation-specific investments and infor-

mation exchange play different but complementary roles in influencing operational performance. The

results suggest new directions for supplier–buyer relationship research in operations management and

important managerial implications.

© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Over the past two decades conceptual and empirical research

in operations management has embraced the idea that collabora-

tive supplier–buyer relationships can be a source of competitive

advantage for manufacturing firms (Carr and Pearson, 1999; Ellram,

1991; Krause, 1999). Among the theories that have influenced the

vast literature pertaining to this important aspect of operations

management, transaction cost economics and the resource-based

view of the firm are of particular interest. Transaction cost eco-

nomics (Williamson, 1985) has inspired researchers to investigate

the role of relation-specific assets (Bensaou and Anderson, 1999;

Dyer, 1996; Grover and Malhotra, 2003), trust (Johnston et al.,

2004; Zaheer et al., 1998; Corsten and Kumar, 2005), and com-

mitment (Ross et al., 1997) in supplier–buyer relationships. The

resource-based view of the firm (Barney, 1991; Rungtusanatham

et al., 2003; Wernerfelt, 1984) and, more recently, the knowledge-

∗Corresponding author.

E-mail address: daniel.corsten@i.e.edu (D. Corsten).

based view of the firm (Grant, 1996; Hult et al., 2003; Kogut and

Zander, 1996) have sparked interest in the role of tangible and

intangible resources, or more specifically, the role of information

exchange and knowledge sharing in supplier–buyer relationships

(Dyer and Nobeoka, 2000).

In the search for factors that provide competitive advantage in

supply-chain relationship management, many drivers have been

proposed and examined. One potential driver, identification with

supply-chain partners has been proposed theoretically (Ireland and

Webb, 2007; Peteraf and Shanley, 1997), and discussed in an indi-

vidual case study (Dyer and Nobeoka, 2000), but otherwise has not

been empirically examined. Inter-organizational identification is a

concept derived from the notion of organizational identification,

the perceived oneness of an individual with an organization and

the experience of the organization’s successes and failures as one’s

own (Mael and Ashforth, 1992). Anecdotal evidence from the auto-

motive industry suggests that the identification of suppliers with

buyers such as Honda (MacDuffie and Helper, 1997) or Toyota (Dyer

and Nobeoka, 2000) at least partially explains the superior produc-

tivity and performance of these supplier–buyer networks vis-à-vis

their competitors (Dyer and Hatch, 2004). As members in a sup-

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

doi:10.1016/j.jom.2010.10.002