Exploring the Effects of Organizational Culture on Supply Chain Integration Firm Performance

Supply chain integration (SCI) has become the core of operations management and a large amount of resources are dedicated to the adoption of SCI. Although it is widely purported that SCI would enhance firm performance, it is reported that less than half of the SCI adopting firms have materialized its purported benefits. The empirical findings on SCI-performance relationship are mixed and even controversial. Furthermore, previous studies have an implicit assumption that SCI’s effects on performance are unconditional and thus ignored the possible interaction effects of human-related factors. As a consequence, little is known about what causes the differential effects of SCI on performance. Practitioners are left with little guidance on how to help the adopting organization reap the potential benefits of SCI.To address the shortfall in the literature, our proposed study aims to reveal (1) what are the reasons for the inconsistent empirical findings on the SCI-performance relationship (2) how dimensions of SCI differentially affect firm performance, and (3) how human-related factors, organizational culture in particular, may affect the effects of dimensions of SCI on performance. Drawing upon theories on organizational culture, operations management and information systems, we develop a research model on the dimensions of SCI (i.e., information sharing, collaborative planning and process coordination), organizational culture and performance (i.e., operational performance and customer service). Specifically, we argue that the inconsistent findings on the SCI-performance relationship can be attributed to the missing of behavioral factors from previous studies, in addition to their inconsistent conceptualization of SCI. Thus, we postulate that organizational culture would differentially affect the effects of SCI dimensions on performance, in addition to proposing the effects of individual SCI dimensions on performance dimensions.To examine the proposed relationships, we will conduct case studies and then a longitudinal survey study over a 12-month period using a sample frame of approximately 500 firms that have adopted SCI in China. The results obtained will have significant theoretical and practical implications. It will contribute to the SCM literature by helping to resolve the inconsistencies in the extant SCI literature and examining how “soft” human factors many affect the process by which operations management practices affect performance. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate how organizational culture moderates the relationship between SCI and performance. This study will also provide practitioners with guidelines regarding the organizational culture conducive for SCI to enhance performance.