Modelling the importance of collaborative culture and its dimensions for supply chain collaboration: a necessary condition analysis

Abstract

Purpose This paper assumes necessity rather than sufficiency logic to model the relationship between collaborative culture and supply chain collaboration as triangular rather than linear. Specifically, this study aims to determine whether overall collaborative culture and its dimensions (i.e. collectivism, long-term orientation, power symmetry and uncertainty avoidance) are necessary for supply chain collaboration and the minimum levels of overall collaborative culture and its dimensions that are required for high levels of supply chain collaboration. Design/methodology/approach Based on the literature, collaborative culture and its four dimensions, namely, collectivism, long-term orientation, power symmetry and uncertainty avoidance, were modelled as conditions having supply chain collaboration as their outcome. The study used the necessary condition analysis to test the triangular relationships between the conditions and the outcome among a sample of firms (N = 166) in the downstream petroleum sector. Findings The results revealed that collaborative culture and its dimensions are necessary conditions for supply chain collaboration, and that high levels of collaboration are possible, although not guaranteed when at least a basic level of collaborative culture or its dimensions are present. Hence, different levels of supply chain collaboration require firms to have different levels of collectivism, long-term orientation, power symmetry and uncertainty avoidance. Thus, at 30% supply chain collaboration, only overall collaborative culture is necessary. Research limitations/implications A significant limitation of this research is that, although several antecedents of supply chain collaboration exist, this study explored only the cultural antecedents of supply chain collaboration. Practical implications The dimensions of collaborative culture are necessary but not sufficient for supply chain collaboration. Therefore, managers should adopt a holistic approach to investment in a collaborative culture, as an over-investment in any of the dimensions may not compensate for an under-investment in the others. Originality/value As one of the first studies to use necessity rather than sufficiency logic to test the relationship between collaborative culture and supply chain collaboration, this research unearthed the non-linear (triangular) relationship between the constructs. It contributes to understanding how collaborative culture and its dimensions serve as bottleneck conditions constraining supply chain collaboration.

Unravelling the asymmetric effects of procurement practices on firm performance: A complexity theory approach to complementing fsQCA with NCA

“…In recent times, business and management researchers contend that traditional symmetric analysis methods such as regression and SEM, which are underpinned by the assumption of additive, inifinal and symmetrical causality, are not suitable for modelling complex phenomena e.g., Refs. [ 20 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 32 , 33 , 37 ]. Accordingly, applying traditional regression-based methods might result in inaccurate results owing to issues of the obliviousness of contrarian cases, multicollinearity, and non-normality [ 38 ].…”

“…Existing research on the effect of procurement practices on firm performance focused mainly on symmetric approaches that sought to ascertain the net effects of these practices on firm performance and failed to ascertain the configurational effects of these procurement practices on firm performance. However, these symmetric approaches do not allow for unearthing the possible asymmetric relationships that might be present between procurement practices and firm performance, which might either stem from (a) combinations of procurement practices that enhance firm performance, (b) that procurement practices are necessary ( in kind and degree ) for firm performance, and (c) that these practices are bottlenecks that inhibit firm performance in that they enable positive variations in firm performance [ 20 ]. These raises questions as to whether (a) combinations of procurement practices might explain firm performance or (b) certain levels of procurement practices are required to guarantee positive variations in firm performance.…”

“…[ 21 ] fsQCA ( based on configurational logic ) is used to address research question 1 through the identification of the sufficient complex configurations of procurement practices that lead to high firm performance, and ref. [ 22 ] NCA ( based on necessity logic ) for research question 2 via the detection of single necessary but not sufficient procurement practices that allow firm performance [ 20 , 23 ]. Even though fsQCA can determine necessity (in kind), NCA was used to complement fsQCA because this study is not only interested in the procurement practices that are important for a firm's performance (i.e., a necessity in kind ), but is also interested in figuring out the extent to which these practices are important for a certain desired level of performance ( i.e., necessity in degree ).…”

When stakeholder orientations matter: Modelling employee orientation, shareholder orientation and supply chain orientation as necessary and sufficient conditions for firm performance

“…Moreover, since firms do not have unlimited resources, besides all orientations not contributing equally to performance improvements, it makes sense to investigate and identify not only the orientations that are necessary for firm performance but also the levels of these orientations that are required for specific desired levels of firm performance. Moreover, prior researchers [ [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] ] suggest that investigating the relationships between constructs based solely on sufficiency logic fails to paint an accurate picture on the relationships amongst the predictor and outcome constructs. This is because, though some of the exogenous constructs may not be significant predictors of their endogenous counterparts, they may, however, be necessary conditions for producing the outcome.…”