TY - JOUR
T1 - Boundary spanner relational behavior and inter-organizational control in supply chain relationships
AU - Dekker, Henri
AU - Donada, Carole
AU - Nogatchewsky, Gwenaelle
AU - Mothe, Caroline
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - Boundary spanner relational behavior is considered critical in the successful management of buyer–supplier relationships and may help avoiding high costs of more formal inter-organizational controls. Yet, the influence of partners' boundary spanners on effective supply chain collaboration has had much less inquiry than the influence of broader inter-organizational controls. We use survey data of 200 buyer–supplier relationships to examine how these individual and organizational control mechanisms influence the performance effects of interfirm collaborations that vary in scope of activities undertaken. Findings show that collaboration scope as well as boundary spanner relational behavior and inter-organizational controls are positively associated with performance. The effect of collaboration scope on firm performance, however, also depends on both mechanisms but in opposite directions: while its influence on performance is enhanced by inter-organizational controls, relational behavior of partners' boundary spanners has a negative moderating effect, indicating that such behavior contributes more to the effective management of collaborations of narrow scope than those of broader scope.
AB - Boundary spanner relational behavior is considered critical in the successful management of buyer–supplier relationships and may help avoiding high costs of more formal inter-organizational controls. Yet, the influence of partners' boundary spanners on effective supply chain collaboration has had much less inquiry than the influence of broader inter-organizational controls. We use survey data of 200 buyer–supplier relationships to examine how these individual and organizational control mechanisms influence the performance effects of interfirm collaborations that vary in scope of activities undertaken. Findings show that collaboration scope as well as boundary spanner relational behavior and inter-organizational controls are positively associated with performance. The effect of collaboration scope on firm performance, however, also depends on both mechanisms but in opposite directions: while its influence on performance is enhanced by inter-organizational controls, relational behavior of partners' boundary spanners has a negative moderating effect, indicating that such behavior contributes more to the effective management of collaborations of narrow scope than those of broader scope.
KW - Boundary spanners
KW - Buyer–supplier relations
KW - Collaboration scope
KW - Firm performance
KW - Inter-organizational control
KW - Relational behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057230803&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85057230803&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.11.010
DO - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.11.010
M3 - Article
SN - 0019-8501
VL - 77
SP - 143
EP - 154
JO - Industrial Marketing Management
JF - Industrial Marketing Management
ER -