Determinants of information quality in dyadic supply chain relationships

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-12-2017-0343
• Published date: 11 February 2019
• Date: 11 February 2019
• Pages: 356-380
• Author: Paulina Myrelid,Patrik Jonsson
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

Determinants of information

quality in dyadic supply

chain relationships

Paulina Myrelid and Patrik Jonsson

Department of Technology Management and Economics,

Division of Supply and Operations Management,

Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore how different determinants impact specific information

quality (IQ) dimensions of shared demand-related information in dyadic supply chain relationships.

Design/methodology/approach –Through a qualitative case study of three manufacturer–su

pplier dyads in the Euro pean automotive indus try, a range of methods a re used to collect data

about 168 possible IQ def iciency situations. IQ deficienci es are identified in 50 situations and de terminants

thereof are explored .

Findings –Findings show how inter-organisational collaboration, intra-organisational process support and

composite information sharing directly impact five pragmatic IQ dimensions (relevance, accessibility,

credibility, understandability and ease of operation) –at times beneficially, detrimentally, varyingly and

conflictingly. Furthermore, the findings show how the determinant impact on ease of use-related IQ

dimensions is moderated by information sharing facets.

Research limitations/implications –The paper extends previous research by showing how information

sharing acts as both a determinant and moderator of pragmatic IQ. It furthermore details previous research

by showing how previously examined determinants of IQ impact specific IQ dimensions.

Practical implications –The generated propositions of how determinants impact pragmatic IQ can guide

managers to identify key drivers of successful information sharing.

Originality/value –Since IQ mediates the linkage between information sharing and performance, this

research helps explaining conflicting results regarding the value of information sharing. It also guides several

strands of future research, such as hypothesis testing and exploratory and conceptualising studies.

Keywords Europe, Case study, Information sharing, Information quality, Supply chain integration,

Supply chain processes

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Demand-related information (i.e. forecasts, firm and planned orders and projected inventory

balances) shared in supply chains is vital to supplier operations planning and control (OPC)

processes (Jonsson and Mattsson, 2013). In this context, information quality (IQ)significantly

affects the OPC performance (Petersen et al., 2005; Jonsson and Gustavsson, 2008), by

mediating the linkage between information sharing and such performance (Barratt and Oke,

2007; Jonsson and Myrelid, 2016). In research on the topic (e.g. Wang and Strong, 1996; Lee

et al., 2002; Gustavsson and Wänström, 2009; Wiengarten et al., 2010), however, the

importance of IQ and its dimensions often obscures focus on its determinants. Research on

determinants of information sharing (e.g. Moberg et al., 2002; Simatupang and Sridharan,

2005; Fawcett et al., 2007; Paulraj et al., 2008) focussesmostly on the extent, not the quality,of

information. Theexisting papers examining determinants of IQ focus on a fewdeterminants,

including information technology (Auramo et al., 2005; Kärkkäinen et al., 2007) and trust

(Li and Lin, 2006; Hung et al., 2011), and treat IQ as a single entity. However, IQ is a

multi-dimensional concept (Wang and Strong, 1996; Lee et al., 2002; Gustavsson and

Wänström, 2009), where inherent and pragmaticdimensions are distinctly different(English,

1999). Literature to date has not clearlyexplained how different determinants impact specific

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 30 No. 1, 2019

pp. 356-380

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-12-2017-0343

Received 21 December 2017

Revised 22 July 2018

Accepted 9 August 2018

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

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

356

IJLM

30,1

IQ dimensions, especially not pragmatic ones. Given the abundance of demand-related

information shared in supply chains and the unclear value of such information sharing

(Ketzenberg et al., 2007; Field and Meile, 2008; Jonsson and Mattsson, 2013; Liu et al., 2013),

knowledge of how different determinants impact specificIQ dimensions can help to elucidate

the complex linkage between information sharing and performance.

In response to current literature and based on the need to understand the linkage

between information sharing and performance, the purpose of this paper is to explore how

different determinants impact specific IQ dimensions of shared demand-related information

in dyadic supply chain relationships. The paper focusses on information shared among a

manufacturer in the European automotive industry and three of its first-tier suppliers. The

study extends existing literature by detailing how different determinants, both directly and

indirectly, impact specific IQ dimensions. It also identifies several future strands of research

on supply chain information sharing and IQ.

The paper first presents a literature review of IQ dimensions and its determinants, followed

by a description of how data for the study were collected and analysed. Thereafter, it presents

the results from a within-case analysis, including case-specific IQ determinants and their impact

on specific IQ dimensions, along with a cross-caseanalysisthatcomparesthedeterminants

identified across the three dyads studied. Ultimately, the paper discusses empirical findings in

relation to literature and develops a framework and propositions for future research.

2. Literature review

Literature on IQ dimensions and determinants are reviewed to construct a conceptual model

for use in a case study analysis. In the literature review, IQ, data quality and knowledge

quality (search terms: “information/data/knowledge quality”,“quality information/data/

knowledge”,“quality of information/data/knowledge”) were searched for in 12 main

logistics, supply chain management and operations management journals[1], in coherence

with Jonsson and Myrelid (2016), and resulted in 104 articles. Out of these, 33 articles

contained a description of the dimensions included in the IQ concept and/or any of its

determinants, and were thus considered relevant for this study. Furthermore, references

identified through these relevant articles, which similarly met one of the criteria above, were

also included in the review.

2.1 IQ dimensions

IQ refers to the ability of satisfying both stated and implied needs of information receivers

(Gustavsson and Wänström, 2009), i.e., suppliers receiving demand-related information from

customers. The division of stated and implied needs reflects the division of inherent and

pragmatic IQ dimensions, where inherent ones describe information in light of stated

restrictions, policies and procedures and pragmatic ones in light of needs implied by the

receiver (Gustavsson and Wänström, 2009). Despite no univocal division between inherent

and pragmatic dimensions, the first often includes timeliness, reliability, completeness,

conciseness, consistency, validity and security, whereas the latter includes relevance,

accessibility, credibility, understandability, ease of operations, appropriate amount and

objectivity (Lee et al., 2002; Gustavsson and Wänström, 2009). Table I shows that pragmatic

dimensions are less examined in IQ-related research than inherent ones (in total

149 compared to 89 times), which motivates a focus of these dimensions in this study.

Using constructs of the theory acceptance model (Davis, 1989; Jonsson and Myrelid,

2016), the pragmatic dimensions can further be divided into ease of use-related and

usefulness-related dimensions, where accessibility, understandability, ease of operation and

appropriate amount are ease of use-related and explain the format and availability of

information, while credibility, relevance and objectivity are usefulness-related and

constitute the information’s accuracy and value. From a theoretical point of view,

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Determinants

of IQ