Antecedents and consequences of electronic supply chain management diffusion. The moderating effect of knowledge sharing

• Date: 08 May 2017
• Published date: 08 May 2017
• Pages: 699-718
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-01-2016-0023
• Author: Hsiu-Fen Lin
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

Antecedents and consequences

of electronic supply chain

management diffusion

The moderating effect of knowledge sharing

Hsiu-Fen Lin

Department of Shipping and Transportation Management,

National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan

Abstract

Purpose –Grounded in the resource-based view and social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to

develop a research model that offers a comprehensive understanding of the antecedents and consequences of

electronic supply chain management (e-SCM) diffusion.

Design/methodology/approach –Survey data from 142 managers (in charge of e-SCM projects in their

companies) of large Taiwanese firms were collected and used to test the hypotheses using hierarchical

moderated regression analysis.

Findings –The results indicate that information technology deployment capability, operational capability,

human resource capability, and knowledge sharing are important antecedents of e-SCM diffusion. In turn,

higher levels of e-SCM diffusion lead to greater competitive performance. This study also finds that

knowledge sharing plays a moderating role by strengthening the relationship between organizational

capabilities (e.g. operational capability and human resource capability) and e-SCM diffusion.

Practical implications –Managers should recognize that human resource development activities

(recruiting, training, and managing valuable e-SCM personnel) are an important source of e-SCM diffusion.

Similarly, managers must establish the connection between human resource capabilities and e-SCM

diffusion (i.e. “soft-side”e-SCM) such as hiring and retaining skilled e-SCM personnel, training and

development for e-SCM personnel, and measuring e-SCM personnel’s global mindset over time.

Originality/value –Theoretically, this study aims to provide a research model that is capable of

understanding the antecedents and consequences of e-SCM diffusion. From the managerial perspective, the

findings of this study provide valuable decision guides for practitioners to help them identify and develop

firm internal capabilities and social mechanisms that foster e-SCM diffusion.

Keywords Organizational capabilities, Information exchange, Knowledge sharing, Competitive advantage,

Electronic supply chain management diffusion, Hierarchical moderated regression

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Many researchers view electronic supply chain management (e-SCM) as an important issue

when firms deal with more complex and longer supply chains (Cegielski et al., 2012). e-SCM

is an internet-based enterprise system providing information and information processing

capability to streamline and integrate business processes both inside and across corporate

boundaries (Gimenez and Lourenco, 2008; Liu et al., 2010; Wu and Chuang, 2009; Zhu et al.,

2006). This study focused on e-SCM diffusion, which refers to the level of e-SCM

implementation by the firms to support major business functions and business processes

within and across organizations. e-SCM diffusion becomes a significant research topic

because it has the potential to improve organizational and supply chain-wide performance

by increasing electronic transaction efficiencies and both intra- and inter-firm coordination

effectiveness (Hazen et al., 2012; Yao et al., 2007). Basically, there are three important issues

related to e-SCM diffusion over the last decade. First, e-SCM diffusion is a critical enabler of The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 28 No. 2, 2017

pp. 699-718

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-01-2016-0023

Received 28 January 2016

Revised 30 January 2016

12 June 2016

30 August 2016

Accepted 2 November 2016

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

The authors would like to thank the National Science Council of the Republic of China, Taiwan for

financially supporting this research under Contract No. NSC100-2410-H-019-015-MY2.

699

Antecedentsand

consequences of

e-SCM diffusion

inter-firm commerce because it provides adopters with several operational and strategic

advantages. However, the high uncertainty related to network effects and interdependence

is a major dilemma for organizations that develop and implement e-SCM (Ke et al., 2009).

Studies by practitioners indicate that the high uncertainty of e-SCM adoption consequences,

such as the opportunistic behavior of the supply chain partners and the uneven benefit

distribution, may lead to a decline in adoption rates (Liu et al., 2010). Therefore, identifying

and understanding the antecedents and consequences of e-SCM diffusion is one of the

fundamental requisites for development of e-SCM solutions.

Second, although e-SCM diffusion has information technology (IT) components,

management capabilities must be addressed regarding changes in organizational processes

and interaction both within a firm and among firms (Lin, 2013). Management capabilities

possessed by a firm can be thought of as belonging to one of two sets –those that reflect the

internal business processes and those that improve inter-firm collaboration (Rai et al., 2006).

Organizational capabilities emphasize exploitation of existing firm-specific resources and

capabilities to address rapidly changing environments. According to the resource-based

view (Barney, 2001) and its extensions (Ravichandran and Lertwongsatien, 2005), the best

approach to understanding IT-enabled business innovation requires the identification of

organizational resources and capabilities, i.e., IT deployment capability, operational

capability, and human resource capability (Molla and Licker, 2005; Zhu et al., 2003).

In contrast, social mechanisms place an emphasis on using social networks to build tight

relationships with their supply chain partners (such as suppliers, customers, and other

channel members) (Tsanos et al., 2014). Based on the social exchange theory, knowledge

sharing can be viewed as one of the important ways in which the firms can continuously

enhance inter-firm collaboration (Sivadas and Dwyer, 2000). Wade and Hulland (2004) also

emphasized that IT-enabled business innovation requires the development of both inside-out

capabilities(e.g. IT-related organizational capabilities) and outside-incapabilities (e.g. external

relationship management) to permit the integration of fragmented, silo-oriented intra- and

inter-firm business processes with low cost and rich content. This perspective apparently

indicates that knowledge sharing may be critical for developing superior organizational

capabilities for successful IT-enabled business innovation. Therefore, thisstudy investigated

the moderating effects of knowledge sharing on the relationship between organizational

capabilitiesand e-SCM diffusion. As such, to investigate how the mainand interaction effects

of these factors in the context of e-SCM diffusion deserves further attention.

Third, literature on innovations describes technological diffusion as a process whereby

new technology is communicated through various channels over time among members of a

social system (Rogers, 2003). Technological diffusion (post-adoption stage) has been

distinguished from adoption decision (pre-adoption stage) (Fichman, 2000). The latter refers

to the decision about using or not of the technology, while technological diffusion only

occurs when the technology spreads within and across organizations. e-SCM diffusion is

complex and dynamic and involves an evolutionary process across time (Hazen et al., 2014;

Wu and Chang, 2012). e-SCM diffusion is necessary because of the changes in the business

environment such as product diversification strategies, increasingly globalized competition,

digital interconnection among supply chain partners, and seeking to balance interests and

pressures both internally and externally (Rai and Tang, 2014). Since many e-SCM projects

are terminated during the diffusion or post-adoption stage, exploring the challenges

of this stage has been an issue of increased importance (Wu and Chuang, 2009). However,

much existing research focuses on assessing the linkage between the contextual antecedents

and e-SCM pre-adoption stage, such as e-SCM adoption intention (Cao et al., 2013; Teo et al.,

2009) and e-SCM adoption or non-adoption (Lin, 2014a). Researchers rarely examine

empirically exactly how organizational capabilities and social mechanisms impact e-SCM

diffusion and performance.

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