Buyer–supplier relationships involve dyadic interactions, but there is a dearth of empirical dyadic analysis of these relationships. While relationships with a power balance between partners do exist, relationships typically occur in the context of power asymmetry. This study examines how perceptions of power use and prevailing relationship quality in dyadic relationships characterized by substantial power asymmetry affect behavioral and operational outcomes. Hierarchical regression is used to analyze data from a dyadic survey of relationships of a brand‐name buying organization and its suppliers. Results indicate that power use affects partner behavior and operational performance, but the nature of the relationship dictates which power sources are most appropriate. In addition, the mediation effect of power imbalance shows that both relational and transactional factors can play an important role in supply chain exchanges.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine what drives the adoption of different social sustainability supply chain practices. Research has shown that certain factors drive the adoption of environmental sustainability practices but few focus on social supply chain practices, delineate which practices are adopted or what drives their adoption. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examine the facilitative role of sustainability culture to explain the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices: basic practices, consisting of monitoring and management systems and advanced practices, which are new product and process development and strategic redefinition. The authors then explore the role played by a firm’s entrepreneurial orientation in shaping and reinforcing the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices. A survey of 156 supply chain managers in multiple industries in Ireland was conducted to test the relationship between the variables. Findings – The findings show that sustainability culture is positively related to all the practices, and entrepreneurial orientation impacts and moderates social sustainability culture in advanced social sustainability supply chain adoption. Research limitations/implications – As with any survey, this is a single point in time with a single respondent. Implications for managers include finding the right culture in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain. Practical implications – The implications for managers include developing and fostering cultural attributes in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring suppliers to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain. Originality/value – This is the first time, to the authors’ knowledge, that cultural and entrepreneurial variables have been tested for social sustainability supply chain practices, giving them new insights into how and why social sustainability supply chain practices are adopted.

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Purpose Socially sustainable supply chain (SSSC) practices address pressing social issues and may provide operational benefits as well as positive impacts on society. However, due to gaps in the current knowledge, it is difficult to know what practices will provide benefits and what management orientations can maximize the impact of these practices on operational performance. The purpose of this paper is to advance the knowledge on the effect of social sustainability orientation on operational performance by examining the mediating roles of basic and advanced SSSC practices and the moderating role of long-term orientation (LTO). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a survey of US-based companies about their relationships with key suppliers. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression were used to test the proposed moderated mediation model. Findings Surprisingly, sustainability orientation predicts operational performance through advanced but not basic SSSC practices. Results also indicate that the effect of sustainability orientation on operational performance is significantly moderated by LTO. Research limitations/implications Results are limited by the US context, the cross-sectional nature of the research, the use of a single-respondent survey instrument and the challenges of measuring LTO. Practical implications Managers and policymakers should be aware of the limitations of adopting basic SSSC practices on the performance of their operations. Advanced practices provide a more robust business case and significantly and positively impact operational performance. In addition, the interaction of a sustainability orientation and LTO can lead to even greater improvements in firms’ operational performance. Firms with the highest levels of social sustainability and LTOs attain superior operational performance. Originality/value This study contributes to the growing literature on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and extends this literature by focusing on social sustainability practices, identifying specific practices that impact and the orientations that maximize operational performance. The authors contribute to the growing literature on the importance of manager’s temporal orientation and provide nuance to emerging SSCM theory by exposing the interplay of these orientations and the impact of SSSC practice adoption.

Eamonn is on the academic staff of the National Institute of Technology Management (NITM) in University College Dublin (UCD), and is active in teaching, research and the business development activities of the Institute. Prior to joining UCD, he was Engineering Director for Bristol Myers Squibb, and was responsible for the design, installation and maintenance of process plants for developing and manufacturing anti-cancer drugs. He also worked as a consultant advising major multinationals and government agencies in asset management and procurement process improvement.Eamonn researches in the area of supply chain relationship management and has published in the International Journal of Operations & Production Management. He is on the leadership team of the IBM Integrated Supply Chain Research Consortium, a group of supply chain experts drawn from universities in the US, Europe and Asia, and is currently working with IBM on a global study of supply relationship management. In addition to teaching on a range of operations and supply chain programmes, Eamonn has a particular interest in the development and delivery of Service Supply Chain programmes, both academic for-credit modules and executive education seminars.2 Abstract Purpose -The paper employs transaction cost theory and social exchange theory to compare how buyers and suppliers perceive relationship mechanisms. The paper also explains the antecedents and dynamics of relationship performance by comparing buyer and supplier perceptions of the same relationships. Within the study we specifically focus on the issue of relationship success and test the hypothesis that the antecedents of perceived relationship success for buyers differ from those of suppliers within supply chain relationships.Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on a study of the supply chain relationships of a major ICT company where matched pairs of buyers and suppliers were surveyed on the nature of their relationships. The survey instrument drew from previously published constructs on key relationship dimensions such as trust, commitment, power, communication, uncertainty and performance. A series of nested models were then developed and tested for the two groupsbuyers and suppliers.Findings -The study found that buyers and suppliers have significantly different perceptions of their relationships across a range of dimensions. In addition, the antecedents of relationship success for both groups bear little similarity, thus supporting our hypotheses.Implications -This research has implications both for academics and practitioners. For academics, the contribution of the paper is in establishing how both transaction cost theory and social exchange theory factors are perceived in dyadic relationships. Specifically, the paper has implications for the study of supply chain relationships as it highlights the perceptual gaps between buyers and suppliers and differences in the drivers of relationship performance. For practitioners, there are implications for managing supply chain relationship...

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PurposeThe aim of this paper is to expand the knowledge of buyer‐supplier relationships by investigating the extent to which organisational cultural fit between a buyer and supply chain participants influences performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in a FMCG supply chain. A cultural dimensions questionnaire was used in a focal organisation (the buyer) and it identified best and poorest performing supply chain. The results were analysed using a series of ANOVA's within the respective supply chains. The findings were then triangulated via qualitative methods.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that complementarity rather than congruence between the supply chain partners achieved successful performance outcomes. Organisations in the high‐performing supply chain had significantly different cultural profiles, reporting significant statistical differences across all six cultural dimensions. Organisations in the low‐performing supply chain had almost identical profiles across all six cultural dimensions with significantly lower mean scores across each dimension.Research limitations/implicationsThe deconstruction of organisational culture into its constituent dimensions in a supply chain provides insights for academics. Propositions are presented which provide a platform for further studies. Future studies could develop these findings by using a larger sample, over a longer period of time, and adding mediating variables that impact supply chain outcomes.Practical implicationsManagers should pay attention to cultural evaluation within the supplier selection process as well as finance or strategic evaluations. A shared supply chain culture of norm‐based trust and openness may yield better outcomes and reduced conflict and uncertainty throughout the supply chain.Originality/valueThis is one of the first papers to deconstruct and measure organisational cultural fit empirically in a supply chain context.