Antecedents of horizontal logistics collaboration in agri-food supply chains

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-09-2020-0362
• Published date: 10 September 2021
• Date: 10 September 2021
• Pages: 239-260
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics
• Author: Ismail Badraoui,Ivo van der Lans,Youssef Boulaksil,Jack G.A.J. van der Vorst

Antecedents of horizontal logistics

collaboration in agri-food

supply chains

Ismail Badraoui

Rabat Business School, Universit

e Internationale de Rabat, Sal

e, Morocco

Ivo van der Lans

Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Wageningen University and Research,

Wageningen, The Netherlands

Youssef Boulaksil

College of Business and Economics, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain,

United Arab Emirates, and

Jack G.A.J. van der Vorst

Operations Research and Logistics, Wageningen University and Research,

Wageningen, The Netherlands

Abstract

Purpose –This study investigates the impact of agri-food supply chains (AFSCs) characteristics on the

antecedents of horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC). Specifically, the study compares the relationship

between collaboration activities and outcomes for companies in and outside AFSCs.

Design/methodology/approach –First, a survey was used to collect data from different industries. Second,

confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied to compare the measurement and

structural models from different industry categories.

Findings –The results support the premise that collaboration improves trust and commitment in the

relationship, which in turn enhance satisfaction. The results also show the existence of a minor influence of

AFSCs characteristics on HLC antecedents, in the form of an indirect impact of dedicated investments on

commitment.

Practical implications –The factors having a significant influence on the collaboration outcomes and their

respective effects are generally similar across food and nonfood supply chains, providing opportunities for

interdisciplinary and collaboration experiences.

Originality/value –This research contributes to the body of knowledge on interfirm collaboration by

considering the specificities of HLC. It also highlights the importance of conducting contingency research on

collaborative experiences, as firms from different industry contexts operate under distinct operational

conditions.

Keywords Horizontal logistics collaboration, Collaboration enablers, Context effect, Agri-food supply chains,

Multi-group comparison

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Today’s highly competitive business environment has pushed companies todeliver the best

possible value to their customers. As such, firms are seeking collaborative relationships

outside their organizationalboundaries to achieve competitive advantage(Richey et al., 2012).

Among these collaborative strategies, horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC) has gained

much attention in recent years.This practice (HLC) refers to the situation where two (or more)

companies, operatingat the same level in the supply chain, decide to work together to achieve

mutual benefits (Raue and Wieland, 2015). Examples are two (or more) manufacturers that

make group purchases to negotiate better prices, multiple transportation service providers

that share transportation capacity to decrease their costs or multiple companies sharing

Agri-food

supply chains

239

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

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0957-4093.htm

Received 13 October 2020

Revised 13 June 2021

23 August 2021

Accepted 23 August 2021

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 33 No. 1, 2022

pp. 239-260

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-09-2020-0362

storagecapacity to increase storage space utilization.Despite the potential benefitsof HLC [e.g.

cost reduction, improved economic and service performance (Fugate et al., 2009)], successful

real-world cases are rare (Basso et al.,2019). According to Schmoltzi and Wallenburg (2011),

50% and 70% of HLC relationships fail. This raises the need to understand why such an

interesting strategy fails inpractice by investigating the factors influencing its outcomes.

Compared to the well-established literature on vertical collaboration, studies analyzing the

factors that influence HLC outcomes are rather limited (Martin et al., 2018;Wallenburg and

Raue, 2011). The existing literature on HLC includes collaborative transportation,

purchasing, warehousing and manufacturing (e.g. Verdonck, 2017;Walker et al., 2013;

Reaidy et al., 2015;Seok and Nof, 2014). These studies highlight several factors with potential

impact on HLC, such as information sharing, dedicated investments, trust, commitment,

shared or geographically close customers or suppliers, and partners’similarity. Nevertheless,

these contributions simply list relevant factors without empirically investigating their

relationship with HLC outcomes. As such, understanding and quantifying the causal

relationships between HLC enabling factors and its outcomes remain a priority.

In examining factors affecting HLC outcomes, the dynamics of the context have not

attracted much attention. Saenz et al. (2015) posit that a firm’s context defines which factors

facilitate or hinder collaborative attitudes in HLC. While research on HLC does not support

this premise, the literature available on vertical collaboration shows that contextual micro

and macro factors impact the development and implementation of collaboration (Matopoulos

et al., 2007;Van der Vaart et al., 2012;Zhang and Cao, 2018). Nonetheless, existing empirical

studies have only considered manufacturing industries (Hudnurkar et al., 2014), raising

questions about the applicability of the findings to agri-food supply chains (AFSCs). The

unique characteristics of AFSCs, such as transportation and storage conditions, limited shelf

life and stringent food safety regulations differentiate it from other manufacturing supply

chains. To date, a substantial number of research contributions consider collaboration in

AFSCs, but the literature investigating factors influencing collaboration in AFSCs is limited

(Ramirez et al., 2021). Therefore, a better understanding of the impact of AFSCs

characteristics on HLC enablers is essential to improve its chances to succeed.

This study has two main objectives. First, it examines the relationship between

collaborative actions and outcomes through the mediation of relational constructs for

companies within and outside the agri-food industry. Second, the similarities and differences

between agri-food and non-agri-food companies are examined by comparing the influence of

HLC enablers on its outcomes in both groups. The study model builds on existing

frameworks for vertical collaboration and includes additional factors specific to HLC. The

aim is to understand if the unique characteristics of AFSCs influence the relationship between

collaboration activities, mediating relational constructs, and collaboration outcomes.

The contribution of this study is twofold. First, a conceptual model is developed

considering the characteristics of HLC. Second, the influence of the agri-food context in HLC

is investigated by comparing two samples within and outside the agri-food sector.

Theoretically, this research contributes to the body of knowledge on HLC by increasing

understanding of the factors contributing to its success and elucidating the influence of the

industry context, thus filing a gap that has remained largely unexplored by academic

researchers (Ferrell et al., 2020). Operationally, this research offers a basis for collaborative

experiences across industries.

The remainder of the study is structured as follows: Section 2 discusses the theoretical

foundations, where scientific contributions relative to HLC enablers and barriers, and AFSCs

characteristics are reviewed, and hypotheses are formulated. Sections 3 and 4 present the

methods for instrument development, data collection and data analysis. Section 5 discusses

the study results, while Sections 6 examines the research implications, and Section 7

highlights future research and limitations of the study.

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